Almanac Reviews: British Film Festival 2025 – Finale: Hamnet and Saipan Reviews

Hamnet

 

 

Before I start can I just say that my knowledge of Shakespeare is little to poor. I only ever studied Macbeth in Year 12 English and I hired the VHS of Polanski’s film adaptation to take a short cut…George Costanza-style.

 

Funnily enough, it actually helped me with understanding the play and deciphering the prose, but not enough to want to pursue any more of the great Bard’s work.

 

Fortunately you don’t need to be an academic to understand this beautiful film from Oscar winner Chloe Zhao, although if you are a fan of Shakespeare you are likely to have struck heaven here.

 

I love it when a film brings a couple of stars together whose chemistry is undeniable.

 

Jesse Buckley and Paul Mescal are two of Britain’s (Irish in the case of Buckley) brightest young talents. This is simply superb, intense acting.

 

Director Zhao won the Oscar for Nomadland, a film that used every day actors to support the brilliant Frances McDormand.

 

I remember walking away from that film lauding praise on the natural style of the acting and how Zhao left lots of space for the actors to go to work. It felt like that again watching Hamnet. Nothing is rushed, it’s acting in its purest form.

 

Hamnet is the son of William (Mescal) and Agnes (Buckley) who live together with the Shakespeare’s other two children Judith and Susanna.

 

I can’t giveaway anymore other than to say that the tragedy that transpires is what inspired the play Hamlet.

 

The biggest thing I gained from Hamnet was how we handle trauma at its precipice and then how we decide to respond to it. We all manage it differently and how these characters reach some level of closure and healing is executed nicely here. Might be worthwhile taking some tissues for this one.

 

The other aspect of the film that was impressive was how 1700’s England looked. It’s terminally grimy environment, Shakespeare writing with quills and ink under candle light and the lack of hygiene and medical knowledge was interesting to see.

 

Also, there was a small disease called the Black Plague hanging around that made Covid look like ‘man flu’.

 

There’s a scene in London where the dead are being thrown onto carriages which brought back memories of Monty Python. “Bring out your dead!”. “I’m not dead. I feel fine!”  All in all a really stunning film that no doubt will feature at awards time. 8.5/10

 

 

 

 

Hamnet was the finale of the BFF25 and there was a big crowd in the glorious Cinema One at The Regent Ballarat to see off the festival.

 

A preview of the film Saipan was a late addition to the festival.  Review below.

 

 

Saipan

 

 

 

 

If you’re a fan of the world game, you may remember the controversy surrounding the Irish team just prior to the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

 

Former Premier League player and Irish representative Mick McCarthy took on the Irish Manager’s role for the first time at a World Cup.

 

He clashes heavily with the talented but pig-headed captain Roy Keane, one of the world’s best defenders and captain of Manchester United

 

The Irish team are flown to the isolated island of Saipan off the Japanese coast for their two week warm up and team building camp prior to the start of the World Cup.

 

The facilities are two star, the pitch they are expected to train on is a goat track and the footballs, training strips and water bottles haven’t turned up.

 

Keane is wound up tight as a drum with every ‘wrong-doing’ that he blames firmly on McCarthy when the responsibility was actually on the Irish Football Association.

 

McCarthy bides his time with Keane and maintains his focus on the team, but when Keane talks to a journalist about his woes, the camel’s back is finally broken.

 

It’s the Keane-McCarthy show here and both Steve Coogan as McCarthy and Eanna Hardwicke deliver excellent performances. It’s perhaps Hardwicke’s Keane that is most impressive.

 

The final showdown between the two combatants in front of the rest of the team is sensational and this is where Hardwicke excels. It’s here where you discover a little of where Keane’s irrational and long standing hatred of McCarthy comes from.

 

The assessment of Keane after the film is one of an entitled professional footballer with an out of control ego who treats everyone around him with contempt.

 

Keane himself hasn’t denied that the film’s depiction of him is far from the truth, so if you want to see a combination of John McEnroe and Ian Botham letting his team and country down, you will enjoy this.

 

The film highlights the fact that McCarthy was out of his depth early, having to deal with such a divisive figure but Ireland did go on to make the final sixteen and only lost their qualifier to Spain on penalties. Proof that the team is always bigger than the individual.

 

A real treat for soccer lovers. 7/10

 

 

 

 

To read more by Ian Wilson click HERE.

 

 

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