Better Late Then Never

best movie i've ever seen.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

This is a story of how Hemmingway reached out to a writer in his elder years from Havana. The purpose was so the youthful writer would inspire his love for romance and adventure. Giovanni Ribisi did a great job portraying the writer, who inevitably did not re-invigorate or inspire Hemmingway but rather liked Hemmingway's always drunk and nude wife and drove the master author to his grave with a sour outlook.

I loved seeing places that were familiar to me from recent visits. As I watched the film, I recognized many scenes that I have seen before. The film was released in 2016, but I saw at least parts of it years ago. The nude scenes were missing from the version I saw, so I suspect it was a TV special, and some scenes were cut.I don't know why it got some terrible reviews. I could understand it if someone thought it could be better, but at least one review was negative for every aspect of the film, acting, directing, music. It almost looked like a conspiracy! I suspect that the aborted FBI raid on the fishing vessel was cooked up for a bit of drama, but didn't actually happen. Apart from that, it was, in fact, a perfectly respectable film.

As my title to this review states if one knows a lot about Hemingway's life this movie might be an enjoyable experience. If you don't know much you may get lost in the story. I have read the majority of Hemingway's books and just about everything available about his personal life. Still, the film twists a few facts and leaves out significant pieces of information. There are a few story lines that don't connect very well. Hemingway's alleged knowledge of a cross-dressing J Edgar Hoover is offered as the reason for the FBI's harassment of Hemingway. Other research suggests the feud between these two was far more complicated. The scenes of Cuba alone are worth seeing the movie.

"My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way." Ernest Hemingway Apropos of Hemingway's minimalism, director Bob Yari's Papa Hemingway in Cuba features his life only at the beginning of the Cuban revolution in 1959 and the end of his powers as a writer and a lover. Although it is always difficult to imagine such a gifted man giving up on life, this film is explicit about his self perceptions and his delusions.As played by look alike Adrian Sparks, Hemingway dismisses most other adults but is solicitous of a young writer/reporter, Ben Myers (Giovanni Ribisi), who has written to Hemingway and is subsequently invited to visit the manse in Cuba. Ben is really this screenwriter Denne Bart Peticlerc, who had the original experience with Hemingway.While learning to fish from the master, Ben also learns of the trouble in paradise, beginning with family and moving from there to the feds. Although such discord often begets great writing, for neither writer does it provide much inspiration.Not that Hemingway had it easy, for the FBI, the IRS, and seemingly the mob want a piece of the enormous celebrity known as Papa. Ben has his difficulties with his own absence from his love, Debbie (Minka Kelly), and inevitably incurs the wrath of the man himself for mistakenly thinking Ben is selling him out. By then, the genius was suspecting just about everyone.As in recent bios of Chet Baker and Hank Williams, the abuses of these artists become clichéd, one for alcohol, another for drugs, another for womanizing, and the list goes on. Although Hemingway's story here walks the same path, few can match the splendor of his oeuvre.I just enjoy being in his presence, and while no new territory, I am happy to be reminded that humans can achieve such a sublime state and yet be as flawed as I.That's entertainment!