Hemingway & Gellhorn

Nice Movie, and excellent performance by all the actors, and Nicole Kidman is another story, i was stunned by her performance, i mean she is a really talented actress, and she keep impress me say after day, so i think she deserve an EMMY, specially for the older Galhorn part. its a bit long but not boring so it was a movie to watch. And Clive, he was good. and Rodrigo and all of the other actors. Lars Urich of Metallica surprise me so much. I think Kaufman deserve a life time achievement award for his life work, and i think the film should get more high rates. so i advice everyone to watch it, because it talks about two important American literatures.

I wanted to enjoy this film very much, and was looking forward to seeing it.

Unfortunately it doesn't deliver in any way other than visually. It was shot and edited beautifully, and had a lot of potential. But that's where it ends.

The story is boring and meandering, and never really gives you anything to sink your teeth into. The character development is shockingly superficial, as though we're automatically supposed to care about Hemingway and Gellhorn simply because they're Hemmingway and Gellhorn. Sadly, it just doesn't work like that; the notoriety of he subject matter isn't enough to carry the story without competent writing to back it up.

Ultimately we're left with a disappointingly empty portrayal of one of the most colorful and dynamic individuals in history.

Two great actors and a good rea life story, but it just doesn't work. For me it was how artificial and americanized it felt. The Spain they paint is clearly a set, not at all Madrid but a romantic idea of someone who doesn't know it. Everyone speaks in English, then the cliché of the gorgeous flamenco singer, etc. It just didn't feel authentic at all. It's hard to get into the story which has a lot of common places - and Hemingway is such a macho that he makes it really hard to root for their relationship.

The movie left me flat. I was interested in the history and intrigued to see how it was portrayed. Skipping back and forth between the sepia, black and white and colour formats was disruptive. Further I don't think that the two principals did their roles justice. Like Hemingway they tried, almost painfully at times, to be larger than life and it resulted in inconsistent portrayals of these remarkable characters....both are good actors...probably a function of bad direction. The love affair didn't work at all....I guess a combination of things got in the way of my enjoying the movie. Several times I commented "this is not a very good flick" as we watched...and yet we watched it to the end...knowing how it would end....a strange viewing experience. I wanted it to be better and it had such potential to be so.

I'm always leery of historical epics and biopics that never get the history right. Composite characters are created, the time line is messed with, people say things that are attributed to others etc. After viewing Hemmingway and Gellhorn and then doing a little background research, Kaufman and Co. at least got the story right especially the events of the Spanish Civil War. These scenes look exactly like the Robert Capa photos taken when he accompanied Hemmingway and Gellhorn. Nicole Kidman is great as usual, Clive Owen is a bit over the top but then again he is playing someone who was in many ways, larger than life. I felt both Robet Duvall and Peter (don't blink or you'll miss him) Coyote talents were wasted in minor roles. The blending of sepia with black and white was a good way to invoke the photos and news footage of the day and by inserting the characters into this historic footage (a la Forrest Gump) really showed that the characters were part of something much larger. At 2 1/2 hours I wasn't bored but it could've benefited from a better script and tightening the story somewhat.