Even though I was still kind of upset about Ilia Malinin’s implosion at the Winter Olympics, we went to see what I knew was going to be a real heart-wrencher of a film the very next day.

If a film gets eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, my husband and I are definitely going to go see it, even if we have to drive a ways and go at an odd hour like 11am.

So, off we went to Hamnet on Valentine’s Day.

All I’ll say is this (no spoilers)—it’s a real stunner of a film. The accolades are well-deserved, especially for leading actress Jessie Buckley.

I was enough of a theater kid (and theater adult) to understand that the plays of William Shakespeare have impacted the development of the performing arts like nothing else. They are singularly important.

If you’ve ever been deeply moved by a play or a painting or a song or a poem or a novel, you know the feeling of not really understanding why it hits you so close to the heart. It just does.

This film, Hamnet, is about the why.