Corey Stoll and Adrien Brody were pitch-perfect as Hemingway and Dali. I loved it when 'Hemingway' just says out of the blue , 'Who wants to fight!'. It went great with his insane bravery and 'facing-a-charging-rhino' gibberish.
And Adrian Brody--with his walking stick.. HIS whole take on the Rhino was genius writing, acted perfectly. Just using the plural of rhinoceros was hilarious.
Those two were amazing
shareI'm not a fan of Hemmingway, his writing is just a series of run on sentences. But the character was writing well and Corey Stoll plays him perfectly.
I've always had a fondness for Dali... and Adrian Brody. So putting the two together was a plus.
Ever since I watched Midnight in Paris with my family, we just refer to Corey Stoll as Hemmingway and my dad likes to randomly shout "Dali!". 😄
If you don't like Hemingway's novels, you should give his short stories a try, especially the Nick Adams ones. Much more focused, poignant, than his larger works. Of these, "Indian Camp" and "Big Two-Hearted River" are especially memorable.
shareIf you don't like Hemingway's novels, you should give his short stories a try, especially the Nick Adams ones. Much more focused, poignant, than his larger works.and I find myself hearing Corey's voice... it works for me. share
Hills Like White Elephants is another special one. Not too meaty but still a substantial piece.
shareAdrian Brody's Dali didn't do it for me, but maybe just because he's a painter and I'm inclined to pay more attention to writers. For me it was all about Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Zelda. I guess I know quite a lot about those figures' personal lives, and to see them come to life in a place and time that's considered so consequential to 20th century culture and art was an incredibly pleasing experience for me. I bet I watched the first passage back in time where Gil meets Zelda, Scott and Ernest at least 5 times. The performance of the actor portraying F. Scott Fitzgerald was so subtle, just as I imagine real writer to have been. It was palpable to me how sensitive his character was to others' feelings, whereas in contrast both Zelda and Hemingway just bulldozed on right through. It was a perfect realization of Fitzgerald's people pleasing tendencies. For example, I love how when Hemingway asks point blank whether Gil liked his book or not, you can see Fitzgerald's brow furrow up because he's worried Gil's opinion will be negative, and then, afterwards, when Gil says he loved all of Hemingway's books, Fitzgerald's face is awash with satisfaction for his friend Hemingway. Or I love how when he first introduces Gil to Hemingway there is an air of reverence in his introduction. His admiration for Hemingway is obvious.
As you can tell, I watched that dream sequence more than a few times.
But it was the Hemingway portrayal that really got to me. So often people write Hemingway off as a racist chauvinist, and it was nice to see a different interpretation: this brooding, confident and blisteringly honest Hemingway is exactly what I wanted, even if I didn't know it. Thank you, Woody. Most of all I love how Hemingway talks like his prose. If you truly appreciate Hemingway, then you know it's all about the extraordinary aesthetic delicacy of his prose. That's exactly what Woody caught, especially in that scene where Hemingway is describing his war experiences. I love how Corey Stoll never blinks during the monologue, and I love how Hemingway's philosophy on persevering in the face of inevitable death means making really good love to a great woman, and then, afterwards, making really good love again. So very Hemingway.
Sure Hemingway spent an awful lot of time describing how he dragged his scrotum through the underbrush, but did ever such a clunky set of testicles deliver us more graceful prose?
Interesting comments there. I didn't know much about what Fitzgerald was like as a person when I watched the film, but sounds like they did a good job with the details. What did you think of the portrayal of Gertrude Stein? I am reading A Moveable Feast for the first time and I keep hearing Kathy Bates's voice whenever she says something. Seems like over all the casting of the historical figures was really good.
shareHemingway (in the movie) sounded just like the way he writes. Very interesting. Loved the movie.
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