UPDATE: The wins continue for “Hamnet” which just won the audience award for best feature film at London Film Festival. I’ve updated the scoreboard below.
EARLIER: I’m not saying “One Battle After Another” won’t ultimately take home Best Picture at next year’s Oscars — it very well might. But make no mistake: “Hamnet” is not going down without a fight.
The film has maintained steady momentum since its world premiere at Telluride and its subsequent Audience Award win at TIFF, where it was showered with praise — in my opinion, overpraise — and, for a few weeks, held the title of early Best Picture frontrunner.
That changed once “One Battle After Another” screened, pushing “Hamnet” to the back burner, at least for the moment. Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic skipped the fall festival circuit, so there’s no way of knowing what its reception would have looked like.
Yet “Hamnet” refuses to fade quietly. The film continues to rack up Audience Awards at key regional festivals — a noteworthy trend, especially given the presence of Oscar voters at events like Middleburg and Mill Valley.
Audience Awards Earned:
Toronto International Film Festival
San Diego International Film Festival
Virginia Film Festival
Mill Valley Film Festival
Middleburg Film Festival
Valladolid International Film Festival
BFI London Film Festival
By now, you’ve likely read — or at least heard — the gushes and raves about Zhao’s “Hamnet” following Telluride and TIFF, along with the chatter of it being a Best Picture contender. Is the hype justified? Not entirely. This isn’t the flawless masterpiece critics want you to believe. But I’ll give it this: it has a great ending.
“Hamnet” currently holds a 92 on Metacritic and sits at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. It will be released in limited theaters on November 27 before expanding wider in the weeks that follow.
One thing is clear: “Hamnet” isn’t going anywhere — and the awards season fight with ‘One Battle’ will likely continue. I can’t really see any other movie competing against these two, maybe “Sinners,” “Wicked For Good” also has its fervent fanbase. Meanwhile, “Marty Supreme” screened in L.A. recently and word is that reactions out there was positive, but more subdued than at its NYFF surprise screening.