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For this Special Thursday Cinema Night, first up is Hamnet (2025), an historical drama about Agnes Shakespeare, the wife of William, who must deal with the death of the couple’s first-born child, Hamnet. What if their intense grief and familial strain provided the spark for William to write a new tragic play? That would be crazy. Director is Chloe Zhao, whose The Rider (2017) we previously watched, and who is otherwise best-known for Nomadland (2020) and, uhh, The Eternals (2021). This has been nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, and has received rave reviews, so let’s check it out.

After that is Tropical Fish (1995), a Taiwanese comedy about a boy who tries to foil a kidnapping, only to be kidnapped himself and held hostage by a corrupt family who take him from the city to a rural farmstead. The kidnappers attempt to collect a ransom, only to be foiled by their comic ineptitude, while the boy fantasizes about a world of fish, and is annoyed he is missing his favorite cartoons. This is generally regarded as the magnum opus of director Chen Yu-hsun, and is one of the highest-rated Taiwanese films on Letterboxd.

We’ll start at 8PM EST on Blorptube, right here:

https://blorp.bot.nu/o/visual_cuisine

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

Doesthedogdie.com links:

CWs for Hamnet:

  • Someone leaves without saying goodbye.
  • Child abuse.
  • Domestic violence.
  • Abusive parents.
  • Alcohol abuse.
  • Death of pet.
  • Bugs.
  • Animal corpses.
  • Someone is physically restrained.
  • Someone struggles to breathe.
  • Seizure.
  • Unconsciousness.
  • Death of child.
  • Suicide.
  • Death of parent.
  • Ghosts.
  • Natural bodies of water.
  • Suicide attempt.
  • Anxiety attacks.
  • Meltdown.
  • Crying baby.
  • Screaming.
  • Babies.
  • Childbirth.
  • Discussion of religion.
  • Sex.
  • Terminal illness.
  • Discussion of existentialism.
  • Blood and gore.
  • Sad ending.

CWs for Tropical Fish:

  • Kidnapping.
  • Child abuse.
  • Natural bodies of water.
  • Anxiety attacks.

Links to movies: