Day 4,340—5 Runs until the Thunder Kiss 100 and the Hamnet Review—

 

        I forgot I was planning to write about Hamnet yesterday. It wasn’t intentional. I  found other things to write about. I am going to start writing about the movie now, so spoiler warning. I wasn’t blown away by Hamnet until the last 20 minutes, when the play starts. This scene pulled everything together in the movie, and it was also enthralling, compelling, and intriguing. I was impressed with the actress who played Agnes from the start, but the actor who played Will didn’t measure-up until scenes from the play. Part of me just wondered if I was just so impressed with the play Hamlet in general, and maybe I need to revisit the work, but it was more than that. It took some classic scenes from Hamlet and gave them this layered purpose. In many ways, I felt that through the play, the author had cheated death and given his son life again. I know that sounds hyperbolic, but it was a triumph of the power of art.

        The rest of the film was quiet and domestic. The scenes were lush with greens and browns. The story jumped in time a lot, but it had these moments that were otherworldly. Seeing Agnes insist that Will go to London to try to write, the two birth scenes, and the scene where Will goes to London and leaves his wife and kids. Seeing that little kid get upset and cry after seeing his dad leave makes me emotional now just thinking about it. I don’t know if it is my favorite movie of the bunch, but it might be the one I revisit the most. One Battle I expected to love, and I still loved it, but Hamnet, I wasn’t so sure about it. It was the only other movie of the bunch that I assumed I would like, but just not in the way I ended up enjoying it. I expected the stillness but not the depth.

        After I ran 5 this morning, I immediately went to run errands and go shopping for the race, and then I took my kids to the library and the park. I was thinking about how I am going to be gone for a few days, so I need to squees in as much time as I can with them. This week, I have done a good job of that. I am trying to remember now what I did with them yesterday. I played with my son a lot, and he pretended to be Spider-Man. He jumped off the couch and ran to my desk, making the sounds for the webs, and then ran back to the couch. Today, when I was at the store, I saw a Spider-Man shirt and bought it. When we went out today, we were wearing the matching shirts. I thought maybe he would be mad that we’re both wearing it, but he gets so excited whenever I show any interest in his guy’s Spidey and Batman. I watched Marty Supreme yesterday and this morning, so I will write about it tomorrow. It was good, but not close to Hamnet and One Battle. It was more like F1 except it had more depth, and the editing and music elevated it.