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

The Big Picture

The Ringer

Tv & Film

4.3 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 146 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 Shopping. Streaming. Celebrating. It’s on Prime. A State Farm agent can help you choose the coverage you need. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Sean Fennacy.
0:15.8	I'm Amanda Dobbin.
0:16.6	And this is the Big Picture a Conversation show about Hamnet and the best performances of the year.
0:20.5	Today we will talk about Chloe Zhao's new adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel, about the family life of William Shakespeare. Perhaps you've heard of the man. This has been an awards magnet thus far and features a particularly acclaimed performance from Jesse Buckley. Joanna Robinson is joining us to have those conversations. Hello. I'm thrilled to be here. What an honor to be sandwiched between two of my favorite people. Thank you for being back here. Speaking of great performances, you will give one on this episode. Also, Claibor Mendonsofielio will give a great one. He is on the show. We're going to talk about his new film, The Secret Agent, which also features one of the great performances of the year from Wagner Mora.
0:55.5	This is a film set in 1977 Brazil, lots of intrigue, lots of sharks, lots of unexpected absurdity and heartbreaking truth about life under the thumb of power.
1:05.9	It's an awards film.
1:07.1	It's a beautiful movie.
1:08.3	You know, Filio, he was a film critic and a programmer, so he speaks our language. It's one of us. He's one of us. And he was really great to talk to. I felt like I was hanging out with an older colleague when we were chatting, even though he's a genius and I'm a schmuck. We'll get into all that stuff very soon. This episode of The Big Picture is presented by Amazon Prime.
1:28.0	You know how in every great holiday movie, there's that last minute scramble to make it all come together?
1:32.6	From gifts to hosting essentials, Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays,
1:37.0	especially when it's last minute and just can't wait.
1:39.7	So if you need fast free delivery that saves the day, it's on Prime.
1:43.2	Head to Amazon.com slash Prime to shop now.
1:47.1	Before we get into Hamnet, let's talk about some news.
1:52.1	Really good news, really exciting news, a billboard went up.
1:55.7	Don't you love when a billboard goes up and you think something cool is about to happen?
2:00.0	A billboard went up.
2:00.8	This time, it was a billboard went up. This time
2:01.4	it was a billboard for the new Steven Spielberg film, which may or may not be called
2:06.2	disclosure. This new movie stars Josh O'Connor, Emily Blunt, Coleman Domingo, Colin Firth,
2:15.4	Wyatt Russell, and we think it's about aliens. We don't know.
2:21.0	It was rumored at some point, right? Yes. There is a, there is a, there is a, there is a
	...

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