TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! Aneil Karia’s Hamlet takes one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies and reimagines it for modern-day London in a way that feels raw, emotional, and heartbreaking. The film runs just under two hours, a runtime that means some anticipated scenes were cut to keep the story tight. Still, what we get from the film holds firmly to the essence of grief, paranoia, and revenge. Opening with an image of a corpse being cleaned during a Hindu funeral, death is established as the driving force of the story, and it never leaves the frame.
This depiction of Hamlet closely follows the classic tragedy we all know. Hamlet (Riz Ahmed), who has just lost his father, the King. In the wake of his father’s passing, Hamlet is visited by what he believes to be his father’s ghost, who has come to reveal the truth about his death, that he was poisoned by his brother, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. As Claudius (Art Malik) and Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (Sheeba Chadha) prepare to marry, Hamlet feels it is his duty to bring the truth of his father’s death to light.
Riz Ahmed plays Hamlet with a performance that is impossible to turn away from, from start to finish. His interpretation balances both vulnerability and anger, making his descent into madness feel inevitable. You can feel the grief slowly possessing him, twisting every word until the anger spills out in ways that are as heartbreaking as they are frightening. Each line carries this intense and emotional weight; the force of his unraveling makes it impossible to look away. It is a portrayal that feels raw, urgent, and all-consuming.
Morfydd Clark brings Ophelia to life with quiet devastation. She carries the burden of loyalty and heartbreak that surrounds her, making her scenes with Hamlet break you even more. Her unraveling feels just as inevitable as his, and Clark captures both the tenderness and despair of a woman trapped between love and betrayal. Sheeba Chadha’s Gertrude truly portrays a mother torn between love and denial, while Art Malik’s Claudius radiates charm with menace beneath the surface, a man hiding corruption in plain sight. Each performance supports the stripped-down vision of the story, grounding the tragedy in emotional truth.
“…Hamlet feels it is his duty to bring the truth of his father’s death to light.”
The production builds around these performances perfectly. Instead of castles and courts, Karia places us in suffocating apartments, strip clubs, and dark alleys that dominate with a sense of unease. Cinematographer Stuart Bentley keeps the camera close to Hamlet throughout the film, heightening the sense of claustrophobia as Hamlet unravels. By refusing to show us anything outside his perspective, the film locks us inside of his mind, making his paranoia feel shared and understood.
The wedding sequence, staged by world-renowned choreographer Akram Khan, is one of the film’s most memorable moments. What begins as a vibrant celebration slowly spirals into a haunting depiction of Hamlet’s father’s murder. The dance is hypnotic and unsettling, turning movement into a language of betrayal and blood that only those guilty of it could understand. The shift from joy to horror here is seamless, and watching Hamlet search Claudius’ reactions during the performance becomes one of the tensest points in the film.
Sound design is another of the film’s strongest points. Every silence, echo, and scream is deliberate, emphasizing Hamlet’s isolation. When violence erupts, it lands with clarity. The sound design helps the atmosphere feel unstable, as if the world itself is trapped under Hamlet’s grief. This instability keeps the audience uneasy, drawing us deeper into his torment.
This version of Hamlet is raw in its emotion, incredibly natural in its performances, and heartbreaking in its conclusion. Even after centuries of retellings, the story still cuts deep, and Aneil Karia’s version proves that its power has not diminished. At the center of it all is Riz Ahmed, whose incredibly raw performance ensures this adaptation will be remembered.
Hamlet screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
"…raw, urgent, and all-consuming."
