‘Hamnet’ and the 10 Best Performances of 2025. Plus: Kleber Mendonça Filho on ‘The Secret Agent.’

Sean and Amanda are joined by Joanna Robinson on today’s show to cover Chloe Zhao’s adaptation of ‘Hamnet,’ starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. They unpack their complicated feelings by highlighting the film's incredible emotional power, and also criticize aspects they found totally confounding (12:28). Next, they briefly discuss Kleber Mendonça Filho’s ‘The Secret Agent’ and celebrate Wagner Moura’s wonderful performance at the center of the film (48:46). Then, they share their individual top 10 favorite performances of 2025 (55:47). Finally, Sean is joined by Mendonça Filho to explain how some fiction work can discover even more truth than documentary, his thought process behind utilizing split diopter shots, and why he wrote the lead role of the movie specifically for Moura (1:45:46).

Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins

Guests: Kleber Mendonça Filho and Joanna Robinson

Producer: Jack Sanders

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