the picture

Faas died in 2012, and several of Mr. Út’s former colleagues, including famed Vietnam War correspondents Peter Arnett and David Burnett, have continued to insist that Mr. Út took the picture.

This is pure speculation, but if he didn’t take the picture—no one knew at the time what its impact would be—he might suddenly have found himself foundering in a tsunami of praise and publicity in which it was difficult not to drown.

Or, though it’s never entertained by the film, he might have thought—and still continues to think—that he actually took the picture.

Either way, the texture of the picture, as well as some camera moves straight out of the ’70s, makes this Jay Duplass-directed anti-rom-com into an instant retro-holiday chestnut, a double eggnog with a small-batch bourbon chaser.

But the cheap cynicism of “Hamnet” starts to kick in about halfway through, and then takes over the picture.