Kat Piantka | Editor-in-Chief
January 16, 2026
On Sunday, January 11th the 83rd annual Golden Globes were held at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. A night dedicated to Hollywood’s newest and greatest film and television stars, dressed from head to toe in their Sunday’s best. This past year, 2025, was compiled with performances and productions that will long be remembered into the next year and even decade. Many eagerly awaited the crowning of best actor and actress as well as best motion picture. Sinners, Sentimental Value, One Battle After Another, and even Frankenstein were expected to dominate the award ceremony. But little did Hollywood and movie enthusiasts alike anticipate that Hamnet would score two wins from their six nominations for Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama.
Hamnet, based off of Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning fictional novel, beautifully illustrates the thrill of love, strength of family, and the great and inexplicable tragedies which plague the lives of human kind. Award-winning director Chloé Zhao transformed the beloved story of William Shakespeare and wife Agnes into a masterfully touching drama that left audiences inspired and in tears. Hamnet portrays the death of the young son, Hamnet and the aftermath which leads to Agnes’s (Jessie Buckley) emotional unfolding and hysteric daze and the emergence of William Shakespeare’s (Paul Mescal) widely acclaimed theatrical masterpiece, Hamlet.
Senior Michael Havel is among the many who enjoy the resurgence of classical stories that are now being retold through a more modern lense, making him the target audience for Hamnet. He expressed that “[he] believes it’s so important to continue telling classical stories and [he] thinks that films like Hamnet are one way to make them more palatable, especially to younger audiences.” Michael was also “inspired by the way the director built upon Shakespeare’s original work, creating a film that’s not only well-known, but engaging.”
Producer Steven Spielberg believed that Chloé Zhao was the only director “on the face of this planet” who would be able to bring to life the moving story of Hamnet. Both the director’s and the cast’s performances are to credit for the film’s success amongst critics.
Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare had an impressive and heartfelt performance that captured the ambitious and driven nature of the remarkable playwright and poet. His journey exploring the character of Shakespeare and the process of filming Hamnet taught Mescal the importance of allowing oneself to be vulnerable. As an artist he recognizes the need within the industry and as a society to be “vulnerable enough to allow ourselves to be seen for who we are and not who we ought to be. And to give ourselves fully to the world.” Mescal believes that if people allow themself to be vulnerable it will spread and demonstrate to others that “they can also see themselves and fully accept themselves.”
Additionally, Jessie Buckley’s performance as Agnes was captivating and left the audience in a trance by her raw emotion and unfiltered performance which expressed the distinct despair only a mother can experience with the loss of a child. Buckley’s performance as Agnes has catalyzed her emergence as Hollywood’s next best actress. The Irish 36-year-old has captured hearts from across the globe and is more than deserving of her recent accolades. On January 4, Buckley won Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards and most recently Best Female Actor at the Golden Globes for her performance in Hamnet. Buckley is quickly becoming the favorite to win Best Actress at the Oscars on March 16. Not only is her embodiment of Agnes Shakespeare worth noting but also Buckley’s fellow nominees which included three-time Golden Globe winners Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lawrence. However, Buckley was victorious, returning home for the second week in a row with a shiny trophy, as she impressively won with her first nomination. Senior Myla Pert thought that it was “inspiring how a not as well known actress is receiving the attention and praise that she deserves because her performance as Agnes was incredibly moving.”
As someone who watched Hamnet I can testify that the film is deserving of Best Motion Picture but the announcement still came at a shock. Hamnet was an intimate movie played in small theaters for a limited time rather than being released as a blockbuster with immense advertisement, Hamnet relied on word of mouth and prior outside interest. In total, Hamnet only made $17.3 million in the box office worldwide. While, its competitor and boxoffice outshiner, Sinners, made a whopping $368.3 million and had over triple the movie budget as Hamnet. To the shock of the Hollywood community and viewers, the small production with a very specific and typically older audience was able to take the crown that night. But the awards season is just beginning, we will continue to see how 2025’s biggest movies fare against the voting academies and if Hamnet will have more celebratory evenings in its future.
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