The 50th Toronto International Film Festival (or Tiffty, for those in the know), recently concluded with the presentation of not only the People’s Choice Awards, but a new International People’s Choice Award, around which there was some confusion. Even on the ground at TIFF, attendees were unsure what counted as an international film and whether a single title could potentially win in both categories. This year’s slate included more legitimate contenders than usual, in both categories. World premieres have fared better in Toronto than films that previously played at Cannes, Venice, or Telluride. To that end, Rental Family, Roofman, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery were early favorites, while Christy, Eternity, and Nuremberg debuted to better-than-expected audience reception.
International features — many of which will likely compete at the Oscars — such as Sentimental Value, It Was Just an Accident, and No Other Choice, were popular tickets. Also popular were non-world premieres like Hamnet and Frankenstein, which entered the festival with drastically different buzz. While Hamnet was the talk of Telluride, Frankenstein had received a more tepid reaction in Venice and at a surprise screening in Colorado.
In the end, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet prevailed, though Frankenstein’s runner-up finish has revived its awards chances. Wake Up Dead Man placed third (like its predecessor, Glass Onion), while No Other Choice took the International PCA, followed by Sentimental Value, and the Indian film, Homebound. TIFF attention will help all of these films find relevance, but Hamnet will be the biggest benefactor. This is how it managed to secure the top prize.
‘Hamnet’ Is a Masterpiece That’s as Artistic as It Is Emotional
TIFF stretches on for 11 days, the first few of which are particularly star-studded. Hamnet didn’t have the largest or most famous cast and crew in attendance, though Zhao, Jessie Buckley, and Paul Mescal certainly have their fans. What it did have going for it was that it had the goods and a close-knit, family-like bunch of filmmakers who knew exactly how to sell it. Just as she did at Telluride, Zhao introduced the film by guiding the premiere audience in a meditation exercise.
Not everyone felt comfortable enough to participate, but those who did were put in the best possible headspace to view the film. During the Q&A, it also became apparent how much the cast liked each other and how safe they felt working with Zhao. Though the subject matter gets dark and heavy, Hamnet was clearly made with love, the way homemade baked goods at Christmas are, and it shows.
Along with novelist and co-screenwriter Maggie O’Farrell, Zhao smartly adapts the non-linear source text into a fairly straightforward, chronological story. They’ve edited out some of its side characters and time jumps so that Mescal and Buckley can play Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, believably throughout their marriage. But Zhao doesn’t compromise when it comes to the patient and impressionistic way O’Farrell allows Agnes’s story to unfold. Considerable screentime is devoted to picking herbs or cutting fruit, and the movie is stronger for it. Completely unlike the wordy prose of Shakespeare himself, Hamnet‘s script is light on dialogue, which makes what is said and what isn’t said all the more important.
Of course, with a story so focused on its characters’ interior lives, the beautiful screenplay and cinematography, and the naturalistic but no less accomplished costume and production design wouldn’t amount to much without strong performances. Hamnet‘s are probably the strongest of the year. While Buckley’s the odds-on pick for best actress, and deservedly so, the book makes Agnes, Will, and Hamnet all point-of-view characters, and so does the movie. Mescal’s performance is every bit as lived-in as Buckley’s. Noah Jupe shows up in the film’s cathartic conclusion to perform the role of Hamlet on the Globe Theater stage. But Hamnet‘s secret weapon is his little brother, 12-year-old Jacobi Jupe, who plays the title character. The younger Jupe is some of the best child acting ever committed to film, and the film simply wouldn’t work without it.
Hamnet has become notorious for bringing its audiences to tears, but while crowds did weep for upwards of a third of its runtime, it’s not devastating for the sake of devastation. The film ends on a high note and is much more about processing grief (through art) than merely illustrating it. Zhao’s work is as authorial as ever, but — despite the film’s literary bent and slow-ish pace — it’s emotionally resonant in a way that extends its reach beyond the arthouse, which allowed it to persevere for the PCA in a field of more traditional crowdpleasers.
Its PCA Win in a Crowded Field Is Significant
TIFF allows festival goers to vote multiple times, but only once for each film. Some attendees choose to vote for their favorite, while others cast ballots for every film they like or love. For those who love Hamnet, it truly is something special — the kind of transformative experience that doesn’t come around every year. Still, for the first week of the fest, it was less clear that Hamnet was a juggernaut. The afterlife rom-com Eternity and Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice were among the most discussed and sought-after movies. Wake Up Dead Man (the second runner-up) was another reliable installment from Rian Johnson. Predictably, Frankenstein went over better in Toronto, where primarily filming took place and where Guillermo del Toro is something of a local hero.
But as TIFF drew to a close, Hamnet emerged as the safe bet. It was nearly impossible to secure a seat, and rush lines wrapped around street corners. Word of mouth was through-the-roof good, and a large percentage of those who saw it likely voted for it, even if they threw their support behind other films, too. Its competition had some strikes against them. Knives Out movies haven’t won at TIFF or with any major awards body before, and while Wake Up Dead Man is tonally different from parts one and two, its quality is on the same level, which is to say, it’s good. Frankenstein is showier and boasts the star power of Jacob Elordi (who delivers the film’s best performance as the Creature). However, even with its hometown advantage and larger budget, this retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic couldn’t reach Hamnet‘s heights.
PCA winners often make the best picture lineup at the Oscars, and sometimes they get a boost at the box office. The rare exception was last year’s winner, Life of Chuck, which was released to little fanfare last spring. With its victory, Hamnet will almost certainly receive a Best Picture nod and be among the two or three frontrunners. Its People’s Choice Award could turn out to be one of the more significant TIFF acknowledgments in the festival’s recent history.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
