Speaker 1: All right, So once again technology has failed me in
Speaker 1: the same basement that I was in for Boggonia. So
Speaker 1: that has forced me to forego the usual introduction to
Speaker 1: instead read you a partial listing of the credits for
Speaker 1: this movie, which is Hamnet Hamnet, written by Maggie O'Farrell
Speaker 1: and Chloe Show, directed by Chloe Joao, starring Jesse Buckley,
Speaker 1: Paul Mescow, Emily Watson, Joel Alwey, and Jacoby Juke. I'm
Speaker 1: Ronald Young Junior, and I'm leaving the theater. All right.
Speaker 1: This is Ronald and I am leaving the theater after
Speaker 1: seeing Hamnet Hamnet. This is the part where I would
Speaker 1: say what who was it the movie? So I had
Speaker 1: to probably say that all at the top of the episode,
Speaker 1: but normally I would say all that right now. So
Speaker 1: normally at this point I say, I say, for complete
Speaker 1: cast listing, you can go to the link in our
Speaker 1: show notes. And then I say, I'm not here alone.
Speaker 1: I am here with Daryl see Murphy, Darryl C.
Speaker 2: Murphy Stone Well, speaking for myself today.
Speaker 1: I understand, I understand Daryl C. Murphy speaking on his
Speaker 1: own behalf not representative of anyone as a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I won't even put that in. I'll take that out completely.
Speaker 1: This is the solo Darryl see Murphy. I'm gonna beleep
Speaker 1: that out. It'll be funny, all right. So Hamnet is
Speaker 1: the story of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think that I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: that's I think that's how they said it. Yeah, okay, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: like I think they were saying it wrong in that day. Well,
Speaker 1: if we say it Agnes, they say it yes, which
Speaker 1: I'm young, all right, So anyway, they it's the story
Speaker 1: of Hamnet and uh and his wife. I'm sorry. It's
Speaker 1: the story William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes or however
Speaker 1: they pronounce it in the movie. And they have children,
Speaker 1: and they have uh twins, specifically Judith and Hamnet, and
Speaker 1: Hamnet dies, and this explores the connection of Shakespeare grieving
Speaker 1: his son and writing the play Hamlet, as the two
Speaker 1: names are interchangeable, and this is something that has been
Speaker 1: discussed in the past through historians. People have written about this,
Speaker 1: and the writer of the book that this is based
Speaker 1: on fictionalized the whole story around it, which has now
Speaker 1: become this film and obviously it's a story about grief,
Speaker 1: but yeah, let's jump right into it. With that being said,
Speaker 1: Darryl see Murphy representing himself. What did you think of Hamnet?
Speaker 3: I thought it was good.
Speaker 2: It's one of these slow build movies, and there was
Speaker 2: a point in the middle where staying awake was a
Speaker 2: bit of a struggle. But I'm glad I stuck it
Speaker 2: through this movie. I think touched on.
Speaker 3: This.
Speaker 2: I think it touched on the moment that we're in
Speaker 2: and I think you especially see it at the end
Speaker 2: where there's a lot of unprocessed grief and trauma collectively,
Speaker 2: and I think this movie did a good job of
Speaker 2: hitting on that.
Speaker 3: And I gotta say the.
Speaker 2: Woman playing Jesse Buckley, Jesse Buckley, did a great job
Speaker 2: because in my mind, it's a story about Anye's and
Speaker 2: some dude who writes plays because like, she really did
Speaker 2: a great job of bringing that character to life. And
Speaker 2: no disrespect to Paul Mescal, Like I said, this is
Speaker 2: a fantastic movie. Everybody did a great job, but you know,
Speaker 2: she really carried that this entire film. But yeah, and
Speaker 2: there were definitely moments in there, especially at the end,
Speaker 2: where it took everything in me to like to keep
Speaker 2: it together, because how could you not break down with
Speaker 2: and you see when you're a part of this collective,
Speaker 2: and I mean you, and I mean for me personally,
Speaker 2: I've been thinking a lot about death. Death has been
Speaker 2: you know, circling the wagons. I've lost a friend and families.
Speaker 2: I got family members who've lost people, and like, you know,
Speaker 2: just dealing with that, grappling with that, and then also
Speaker 2: thinking about death, what's coming as I get older, thinking
Speaker 2: about my parents, et cetera.
Speaker 3: You know, all of that is in my mind personally.
Speaker 2: And then of course the community, the broader society that
Speaker 2: we're in, you know, and I'm thinking about COVID, you know,
Speaker 2: for one, just how we as a collective haven't been
Speaker 2: able to really process what that did to us and
Speaker 2: what that means. And then of course, you know this
Speaker 2: the rampant death that we are just always around. I'm
Speaker 2: thinking about Gaza, thinking about Sudan. Just it's a lot
Speaker 2: that we are carrying on the day to day. And
Speaker 2: I feel like a movie like this really gives folks
Speaker 2: a chance to, I guess, let it out a little bit.
Speaker 2: You know, I might cry when I get home, I
Speaker 2: don't know, but I mean it was definitely uh yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely moving and cathartic in that way. That's that's that's
Speaker 2: my initial take after seeing it.
Speaker 1: I absolutely agree with you. I was crying. I was
Speaker 1: over there. I was. It was one that he gonna
Speaker 1: cry in the car. He was crying in the movie theater.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a game. I a great job. I mean,
Speaker 1: I had my hands up on my face. No, I was.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing, you know, It's funny because the
Speaker 1: last time I felt like I cried like this was
Speaker 1: twenty eight years later, and it was the same thing,
Speaker 1: and it was a mother and a son. Mother had cancer,
Speaker 1: and like my mother died of cancer. And I've obviously
Speaker 1: been more in touch with my grief now, well people
Speaker 1: say more in touch with by emotions, but more equated
Speaker 1: with grief now more than I've ever been. And so
Speaker 1: for me, like, I think, one thing that that sticks
Speaker 1: out to me is that for anyone who knows grief,
Speaker 1: when you watch this movie, what this film does is
Speaker 1: does a very good job of talking about some of
Speaker 1: the unspoken language of grief that you only understand if
Speaker 1: you've become acquainted with it, meaning that if you have
Speaker 1: not suffered the loss. If you have not suffered grief,
Speaker 1: you might be able to sympathize with what's going on
Speaker 1: on the screen. But there's a deeper understanding that I
Speaker 1: kind of felt, especially towards the end when we're actually
Speaker 1: watching Hamlet, that dev really just gets you right in
Speaker 1: the chest where I'm like, oh, I get it, and
Speaker 1: I know this because there was words I did not
Speaker 1: understand what they were saying, but I knew exactly what
Speaker 1: was happening. I knew exactly what William Shakespeare's I do
Speaker 1: in Paul Meskal's William Shakespeare was doing. I knew exactly
Speaker 1: what that was. I knew exactly what Anya's agnes. I
Speaker 1: knew exactly what she was feeling. And there's a scene
Speaker 1: in there where the audience reacts in a very specific
Speaker 1: way that really at that point I'm like, well, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna let them fall now, because there were several
Speaker 1: times in a movie where there's something overtly sad happening,
Speaker 1: but it was the processing of the grief that really
Speaker 1: then like just drives the hammer right on home. And
Speaker 1: You're absolutely right. I always and I was struggling with
Speaker 1: my rating on this movie, which we'll get to in
Speaker 1: a second. But I was struggling with my rating on
Speaker 1: this movie because I'm not a big fan of Oscar
Speaker 1: performance driven movies. This is a performance driven movie. The
Speaker 1: plot is not heavy. It is about the performances in
Speaker 1: this film. There's something that happens. There's beginning, middle, and
Speaker 1: an end, of course, but this is performance driven. But
Speaker 1: my god, the performances Jesse Buckley to me is in
Speaker 1: the first place, the second one is Hamnet, and somewhere
Speaker 1: third or fourth is Paul Mezkyle. He did a great job,
Speaker 1: to be clear, Unfortunately he was with the champs in
Speaker 1: this one. Talk to me about performances.
Speaker 2: Yes, like I said, Jesse Buckley killed it. Give her everything,
Speaker 2: give her everything. Wonderful job. And yes, the children were great.
Speaker 2: Ham Knit's character, a Hamnitz actor was great. I mean, yet,
Speaker 2: not to take nothing away from Paul mescal because I
Speaker 2: think the moment that I'm thinking about right two moments.
Speaker 1: Actually, I think I know.
Speaker 2: One of them is the one where he stood up
Speaker 2: to his father, yes, and the other one is where
Speaker 2: he was struggling and he knew that he had to
Speaker 2: go somewhere. He knew he had to leave and I
Speaker 2: think as a creative I felt that and he I
Speaker 2: feel like he did that way real capturing that frustration
Speaker 2: and not being able to articulate it, just knowing that
Speaker 2: something is moving in you and you have to move
Speaker 2: with it. That was outstanding in my opinion. But everybody
Speaker 2: in this film was top notch, and so yes, give
Speaker 2: our best Actor, Supporting Actor. Everybody should be nominated for
Speaker 2: something because this did the job and it's hard to
Speaker 2: do these type of movies. There's an art to it
Speaker 2: because it's like magic. You're looking over here and then
Speaker 2: in the end you should have been looking the other way.
Speaker 2: They're distracted. They're distracting you because there's little moments that
Speaker 2: there was some moments I got a little bit of
Speaker 2: foreshadowing I was able to pick up on, but building
Speaker 2: the way the movie built up to the end, the
Speaker 2: punch was like, oh my gosh, how did I not
Speaker 2: see this? And so yes, the acting, the screenplayed, that directing,
Speaker 2: everything was fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 1: Chloe Jaw amazing. She does a lot of good job
Speaker 1: of portraits, a lot of beautiful shots of the forest.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the cinematographer was here, Whoever, the
Speaker 1: DP was they crushed it in this beautiful to look at,
Speaker 1: especially for them to be in like muddy England countryside.
Speaker 1: They really made the green so vibrant that it stood
Speaker 1: against the brown, and when they were writing by candlelight,
Speaker 1: still beautiful. There was just a lot that really worked there.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about one negative part of Paul
Speaker 1: Mezcal that I don't believe was his fault, and I
Speaker 1: think it was, and I think you'll I don't know
Speaker 1: if you'll agree, but there's a scene in which he
Speaker 1: actually says the famous lines to be or not to
Speaker 1: be and that fell flat with me. And remember at
Speaker 1: that moment, I'll tell you why, because as he's doing
Speaker 1: something in that moment, and I knew what the screen
Speaker 1: was invoking in that moment, and for me to utter
Speaker 1: the lines at that moment felt a little bit cheap.
Speaker 1: I would have liked to have seen it cut in
Speaker 1: from the scene before where someone was saying the lines,
Speaker 1: and then cutting in with him doing what he was
Speaker 1: doing at the moment, rather than him saying it out loud,
Speaker 1: because that scene where he sneaked taking the lines from
Speaker 1: the guy and telling them how to say them. Because
Speaker 1: he's also grieving and emotional about his son. That to
Speaker 1: me was like, Okay, we get the point there, But
Speaker 1: then for him to actually say it to no one
Speaker 1: in particular at that moment, I'm just like, this is
Speaker 1: a little bit on the nose for me.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know another thing, and I see your
Speaker 2: vision and I'm with you. I think that would have
Speaker 2: been super powerful. But another point I want to make
Speaker 2: before I forget it is that while we're sitting here
Speaker 2: talking about crying and the sadness and mourning and death,
Speaker 2: this is also a really happy movie.
Speaker 3: Because this is a movie about two people who love
Speaker 3: each other.
Speaker 2: And who have a beautiful family, and who manage to
Speaker 2: and who managed to stay in community or do some
Speaker 2: sort of reconciling with family members who they don't get
Speaker 2: along with. Yes, and and you're watching, You're watching, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, the best example of what a family is.
Speaker 2: It's they were communicating and and there was space. There
Speaker 2: was a disagreement that was falling out, and then there
Speaker 2: was an understanding. And there was one part that I
Speaker 2: really love as well, is when I don't want to
Speaker 2: say too much, but there was a reveal to Anya's
Speaker 2: and it started to become clear that something was happening,
Speaker 2: and she began to understand something, and I.
Speaker 3: Thought that was really beautiful.
Speaker 2: The question of why would somebody be here, and then
Speaker 2: sitting down to think about I was wrong, which was
Speaker 2: which is beautiful? So yes, so there's grief, there's sadness.
Speaker 2: You will most likely shed some tears, but understand that
Speaker 2: you're looking at something really beautiful and happy, and at
Speaker 2: the center of it is joy.
Speaker 1: I absolutely agree. I think joy is the right word
Speaker 1: to use. Okay, so here on leaving the theater. We
Speaker 1: rate movies out of five stars. You can use decimal points.
Speaker 1: That's fine, just for some guidance. One is obviously terrible.
Speaker 1: Too is I really didn't like it. Three is it's good,
Speaker 1: It's all right, I would watch it again. Four is
Speaker 1: this is a great movie. A lot of the Oscars
Speaker 1: movies and all that typically live around the four range.
Speaker 1: And five is this is perfect, This is great. I
Speaker 1: was satisfied. Oh my god, wonderful. I don't give out
Speaker 1: a lot of fives. I'm leaving the theater. I'm only
Speaker 1: giving you that guidance so that you don't just so
Speaker 1: you know what's going on. But I think you have
Speaker 1: a good understanding the rating systems. With all that being said,
Speaker 1: out of five stars, what do you give this movie?
Speaker 3: Four point five comes to mind?
Speaker 2: Because I initially thought nine out of ten, four point
Speaker 2: five comes to mind.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to give it four point seventy five. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was, Yeah, I was. I was in there, man.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. I'll tell you why. Because I
Speaker 1: don't like movies like this. They're boring. They make me
Speaker 1: want to go to sleep. I don't want to see this.
Speaker 1: I don't understand him. I want the captioning on there.
Speaker 1: But none of that mattered when it reached inside me
Speaker 1: and pulled it out. And the acting was good, the
Speaker 1: direction was good. The trailer for this movie did not
Speaker 1: make me want to see this movie. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to see this movie. Darryl, I see it, and I
Speaker 1: roped you into this because we were gonna hang out
Speaker 1: today no matter what. This is the reveal I'm giving you.
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: see it. He gonna go see it too. We gonna
Speaker 1: go see it together. And then I sat in the
Speaker 1: chair and I was like, I'm having a great time here.
Speaker 1: I'm really enjoying this movie and really having a moment.
Speaker 1: And it solidified by four point seventy five when you
Speaker 1: started talking about how good the movie was, because I
Speaker 1: just feel like me and you walked out of this
Speaker 1: having a very good experience, and I just, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't like movies like this. I can't speak for you.
Speaker 1: I don't like movies like this. I know what I like.
Speaker 3: I struggle with movies like this.
Speaker 1: You didn't you understand.
Speaker 2: But the payoff, Yes, when the payoff comes, it's worth it.
Speaker 2: I had a similar experience with Past Lives. Yes, I
Speaker 2: was watching it with my fiance and we were laughing
Speaker 2: all the way through because.
Speaker 3: She's seen it before.
Speaker 2: And I was saying to her, Oh, this is boring,
Speaker 2: this is taken too long. Why are they doing this
Speaker 2: back and forth whatever, right up to the end, and
Speaker 2: then when the end happened, messed me up, man, messed
Speaker 2: me up.
Speaker 3: And I had a similar experience here.
Speaker 2: Except I had the training right, I was ready for it,
Speaker 2: and so I said, Okay, this is gonna be a
Speaker 2: slow build.
Speaker 3: I have to you know.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I was a little drowsy in the middle,
Speaker 2: but and I think that's just because of the nature
Speaker 2: of the movie. It's it's slow, it's setting you up,
Speaker 2: it's pulling you in. You gotta pay attention. The scenery
Speaker 2: is beautiful everything. But so yes, this this this movie
Speaker 2: was definitely It isn't exercise. It does take a little stamina,
Speaker 2: but in my opinion, the payoff is worth it.
Speaker 1: I agree, and not too much. Stamna. It's two hours
Speaker 1: and five minutes, and Oscar movies typically average way longer
Speaker 1: than that, so this is something that you can definitely
Speaker 1: manage worth seeing. It is definitely an Oscar contention. I
Speaker 1: am concerned about some of my favorites that are up
Speaker 1: against this film. I think performance wise, I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: some losses. I think film wise, Centers I think still
Speaker 1: has a chance, but I think performance wise, I'm concerned.
Speaker 1: Especially well Luckily, I don't think any of the women
Speaker 1: from Centers will be up for lead actress. But anybody else,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Cynthia Rivo, not this year. Not this year.
Speaker 1: Jesse Buckley, I've seen Wicked for good. Jesse Buckley acted
Speaker 1: Circles around you. Oh my god. Anyway, with that, Leaving
Speaker 1: the Theater is a production of Owitz Big Round Studios.
Speaker 1: I mixed this episode, and if you've been paying attention,
Speaker 1: you probably see a lot of shifting and moving going
Speaker 1: on in the Patreon world. I have consolidated the Patreon
Speaker 1: under one place. It is now Patreon dot com slash
Speaker 1: oh It's Big Ron. It is no longer Patreon dot
Speaker 1: com slash Leave in the theater, it is Patreon dot
Speaker 1: com slash oh It's Big Ron. If you go there currently,
Speaker 1: you will see a lot of leaving the theater offerings
Speaker 1: on there. Nothing is going to change for the leaving
Speaker 1: the theater audience. However, I'm trying to expand it to
Speaker 1: the entire oh It's Big Ron Studios family so I
Speaker 1: could be ready for new episodes and new shows that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to develop and launch moving forward. As well,
Speaker 1: I'm making a home for all of my wait for
Speaker 1: It listeners. Welcome to the fold. This is a lot
Speaker 1: of labor. I am sitting in a basement right now.
Speaker 1: I do not have service. I cannot look up the
Speaker 1: prep that I did for this show, so I can't
Speaker 1: even tell you the name of the actor who played Hamnett. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to google that or click on the
Speaker 1: link in our show notes but the bottom line is
Speaker 1: I did the work, and sometimes I have to deal
Speaker 1: with things like no service in a basement and recording
Speaker 1: out of my car, and all the editing that I
Speaker 1: do for you every single week for this show, for
Speaker 1: leaving the theater, and not to mention all the countless
Speaker 1: work that I'm doing developing other projects for ODS Big
Speaker 1: Ron Studios. If that means something to you, if my
Speaker 1: labor of love, it is a labor of love, but
Speaker 1: it is still labor. If that means something to you,
Speaker 1: go to patreon dot com slash oh It's Big Ron
Speaker 1: and help us out. Show art from Heather Wilder. Theme
Speaker 1: music by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. For more information about
Speaker 1: Hamnett or Darryl C. Murphy, check out our show notes.
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Instagram blue Sky, TikTok, threads
Speaker 1: or letterboxed at owitz bigrond that's at O H I
Speaker 1: T S b I g R O N. You can
Speaker 1: find out more about this show and other ODS Big
Speaker 1: Ron Studio shows by following us on Instagram at OZ
Speaker 1: big Ron Studios. Leaving the Theater will be back soon.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Oh this is fun.
Speaker 1: I'm rodeled young junior, and I'm