Papa: Hemingway in Cuba

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bob Yari
Produced by
  • Amanda Harvey
  • Weezie Melancon
  • Michael Pacino
  • Bob Yari
Written by Denne Bart Petitclerc
Starring
Music by Mark Isham
Cinematography Ernesto Melara
Edited by Glen Scantlebury
Distributed by Yari Film Group
Release dates
  • November 19, 2015 (2015-11-19) (Key West Film Festival)
  • April 29, 2016 (2016-04-29) (United States)
Running time
 109 minutes
Country
  • Canada
  • United States
Language English
Budget £100,000 (US$123,000)[1]
Box office $4.6 million[2]

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba is a 2015 Canadian-American film. The biographical drama was filmed in Havana, Cuba, directed by Bob Yari and written by Denne Bart Petitclerc. The film is based on events from Ernest Hemingway's life in Havana in the 1950s, and on a friendship that developed there between Hemingway and Petitclerc, who was then a young journalist.[3] The film received generally unfavorable reviews.[4]

Plot

In 1959, young journalist Ed Myers (a character representing the real-life Petitclerc) ventures from Miami to Havana, Cuba to meet his idol, the writer Ernest Hemingway.[5] While the Cuban Revolution comes to a boil around them, Hemingway helps him find his literary voice.

An early scene from the film depicts rebels allied with Fidel Castro bursting into a street near Havana's Government Palace to confront soldiers loyal to the government of Fulgencio Batista, while Hemingway and Myers take cover and develop a friendship.[6]

Cast

Production

Petitclerc had written the screenplay and had begun working on production of the film at the time of his death in 2006.[7]

Production on location in Cuba concluded in May 2014. It was the first Hollywood film to be filmed in Cuba since the 1959 revolution, according to The Hollywood Reporter.[6] The filmmakers received permission to film inside Finca Vigía, Hemingway's residence from 1939 to 1960, which later became a national museum.[5] Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea at Finca Vigía.[5]

The film's title, Papa, was Hemingway's nickname; he was called "Papa" by his colleagues and admirers, as well as his family.[8][9]

Reception

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba received generally negative reviews from critics. As of May 2016, it had an aggregate score of 37 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4]

On Rotten Tomatoes, as of May 2016, the film had an audience rating of 77%, countered by an critics' approval rating of 8% (based on 38 critic reviews), which was summarized by a "Critic's Consensus" quoting Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (1952) to conclude, "A man can be destroyed but not defeated, although the desultory Papa: Hemingway in Cuba makes one feel as if both can be accomplished by watching a single film."[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Papa: film about Hemingway's Havana years raises hope for Hollywood in Cuba". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Papa: Hemingway in Cuba (2016)". The-Numbers.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ Blistein, Jon (May 8, 2014). "Ernest Hemingway Biopic First Hollywood Film Shot in Cuba Since 1959". Rolling Stone.
  4. 1 2 "Papa: Hemingway in Cuba". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2016-04-29. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Di Nunzio, Miriam (April 28, 2016). "Papa leaves many unanswered questions about Hemingway in Cuba". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2016-04-29.
  6. 1 2 "Hemingway Biopic 'Papa' First Hollywood Feature Film Shot in Cuba in 45 Years". The Hollywood Reporter. May 7, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Denne Bart Petitclerc". Variety (Obituary). Feb 9, 2006.
  8. ↑ Harrington, Mary (December 28, 1946). "They Call Him Papa". New York Post Week-End Magazine. p. 3. Reprinted in Bruccoli, Matthew Joseph, ed. (1986). Conversations with Ernest Hemingway. Literary conversations series. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 42–45. ISBN 0878052739. ISSN 1555-7065.
  9. ↑ Richardson, Hadley (n.d.). "How Hemingway became Papa" (MP3) (Audio segment (4m 37s) from interview). Interview with Alice Hunt Sokoloff. Archived from the original on 2016-04-18. Published at Baker, Allie (June 28, 2010). "How did Hemingway become Papa?". The Hemingway Project. Archived from the original on 2016-04-07.
  10. ↑ "Papa: Hemingway in Cuba (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Archived from the original on 2016-04-29. Retrieved April 28, 2016.


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