Elsinore

Scott has displayed a depth of vulnerability on screen before, but not like this. Every time you think he can’t top himself on screen – and to be clear, it’s not a competition – he pulls forth something from inside his soul that is even more transcendent. It truly is the role of a lifetime.

Andrew Scott makes it an indelible journey.

Hamlet plays a central role in the beautifully acted “Elsinore,” if the title didn’t already give that away. But the command has a dual meeting in its setting of late-1980s England. Young men are dying and fear being forgotten.

Scott is what makes the film stand out from the crowd. Highlighting an unforgettable story, Stone's Elsinore is well worth its 111-minute runtime, but for god's sake, bring more than just one pack of tissues to the theater.

Scott’s searing dual performance — as Charleson and as Hamlet in a National Theatre production that became both the ultimate challenge and fulfillment of his professional career — makes Simon Stone’s film an emotional powerhouse even if it doesn’t avoid inspirational cliché. But it’s a vivid picture of London at the height of the AIDS crisis and a stirring gesture of gratitude to art, specifically theater, as a lifeline even when death looms large.

Charleson was an incredibly complex person, meaning that any screen portrayal of him would need to successfully capture his many sides. Scott brilliantly does just that, and he’s able to pull this off because of one simple thing: He’s playing Charleson the man, with all his flaws and imperfections. It’s the authenticity he brings to the role that makes this one of the year’s very best performances.

While it’s clear he gives it his all in the role of Charleson, the shoddy construction of Elsinore as a series of poorly edited Andrew Scott sizzle reels makes it impossible to tell how good a performance he gives.