Hamnet: A Passage through Time to the Magnificent Forest
A family drama is woven with quiet yet powerful forces of words and nature.

Two generations of professional baseball players return for a reunion game at one of their minor league stops en route to the big leagues. Unbeknownst to them, the owner of the club, on his way to a month of rustic living in the high Asian elevations, and desiring a connection to home, arranges an inducement to get the players to reveal novel anecdotes from their past 'on and off the field' baseball lives. The only apparent commonality between the two groups is their success on the ball field, each team providing the locals with the only two minor league championships for the small town nestled in the valley of the Allegheny Mountains.
A family drama is woven with quiet yet powerful forces of words and nature.
This remake of the Disney Channel Original Movie of the same name brings a strong representative cast.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
When a powerful church leader is found dead, Benoit Blanc enters a tight-knit community where everyone has secrets, but not everyone is fully developed.
Documented human suffering is never easy to view or read about and is understandably triggering for many people, but it can be educational, and education is a key to change. An overwhelming amount queer people worldwide (and in my own country) have it far worse than I could imagine, and documentaries such as Welcome to Chechnya bring issues to light that certain groups of people would never see.
It's chock full of dream-come-true moments for Spidey fans, but its lack of substance reeks of a self-indulgence that is rare even in fan fiction