Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee star in “Late Fame.”Credit: Magnolia Pictures
There’s nothing Willem Dafoe can’t do. The critically revered American actor has played everything from Jesus Christ (The Last Temptation of Christ) to the Green Goblin (Spider-Man) from an iconic vampire (The Shadow of the Vampire) to a manic vampire hunter (Nosferatu), and a big-hearted motel manager (The Florida Project). And even with this list, I’ve probably missed a lot of people’s favorite Dafoe roles (see also Finding Nemo, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, At Eternity’s Gate, The Boondock Saints, Poor Things,and I could go on, and on.)
The thrill of a Dafoe movie is that you can’t predict where his performance will go, other than it will be riveting. In his latest, Late Fame,he delivers a nuanced performance, playing an everyman who was once a poet. Starring opposite Greta Lee, the pair create a portrait of a particular breed of New York artist who has flirted with fame but never gotten her number.
The result is a film that’s warmly earnest, achingly funny, and brilliantly humane.
Late Fameis a love letter to dreamers, but not a romantically naive one.
The Enthusiasm Society gathers in “Late Fame.”Credit: Magnolia Pictures
Cheers to screenwriter Samy Burch, who earned an Academy Award nod for turning the sordid story of Mary Kay Letourneau into the darkly hilarious melodrama May December.Another remarkable transformation occurs with Late Fame,which is adapted from <a href="https://zdcs.link/QP4pRP?pageview_type=Standard&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Arthur%20Schnitzler%27s%201894%20novella&object_type=article&object_uuid=028gixSNKulBFQm9GdnvMcE&short_url=QP4pRP&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle-route-prefix%2F<a href="https://comicvibe.com/jojo-tv-goes-live-on-tcl-smart-tvs-across-india-mena-expanding-the-reach-of-gujarati-entertainment/” title=”JOJO TV Goes Live on TCL Smart TVs Across India & MENA, Expanding the Reach of Gujarati Entertainment”>entertainment%2Flate-fame-review” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Arthur Schnitzler’s 1894 novella of the same name.
She preserved the name of the unpublished novella’s hero, Ed Saxberger, but transported him from turn-of-the-century Vienna to modern-day New York. His struggles are similar, but as she did with May December,Burch expertly depicts a cast of contemporary characters who range from the oblivious to the painfully self-aware.
Dafoe stars as Ed, a SoHo resident, who works at the post office happily enough, until he meets a starstruck fan called Meyers (Edmund Donovan). See, fifty years ago, Ed was an aspiring poet, who even had a book of his work published. But fame eluded him, and he eventually slipped into the blue-collar life of many New Yorkers. To his friends, he’s kind and beloved, but not known as a poet.
Meyers fawns over his book, and insists his friends, a collective of artists who call themselves the Enthusiasm Society, are just as in awe of Ed’s writing. Coaxed into meeting them for coffee, he’s stunned by both their ambition and their youth. One seems so young that you might well wonder if he’s even had his first shave yet. Together, they insist they’ll host a reading — or a recital or something— to present not only their writing, but also Ed’s.
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While the young men who make up most of the group do entice Ed’s untapped desire for praise, he’s most intrigued by Gloria (Lee). Older and bolder than the rest, she’s an actor who oozes a flirty sophistication that feels evocative of Holly GoLightly, a reference the boys of the Enthusiasm Society would likely miss. She enchants Ed, not only with her vibrancy, but with her assurance that through their collaboration, he’ll finally achieve fame at long last.
However, as the Breakfast at Tiffany‘s reference might suggest, not all is what it seems with these young artists or Gloria. Reality steadily permeates their big dreams, forcing Ed to reconsider who he is and what he wants. And by extension, the film urges us to consider what it means to be an artist? Must you be famous? Must you be prolific? Chic or Bohemian? Must you even be any good?
Willem Dafoe and Greta Lee are marvelous together.
Greta Lee as Gloria in “Late Fame.”Credit: Magnolia Pictures
Burch expertly paints several New York City archetypes with care and distinction. The Enthusiasm Society boys, in their self-imposed uniforms of vintage bohemian wear, are the intellectual trust-fund kids who treat squalor as a delicious novelty. Their pseudo-intellectual blather is embarrassing but familiar, as it’s the song sung by many who chased a dream of an artist’s New York that hasn’t existed for the whole of their lives.
Ed knows this all too well. But in Dafoe’s hands, there’s no bitterness in Ed. Instead, he blisters with resigned gratitude for the life he’s built. But as the boys hype him up, a crackle of what could have been urges him to crave more, or maybe feel he deserves more. This change percolates discontent.
Gloria can relate. Her facade is one of a classic New York broad, though she’d rather be the ingénue. She’s brash, sexy, funny, and defiantly chic in a showy way. Her every eyelash flutter or smile practically screams, “Discover me.” Her tragedy is that no one will.
Willem Dafoe star in “Late Fame.”Credit: Magnolia Pictures
While the boys live in the naïveté of privilege that is being white, male, and rich, Gloria is pursuing every second chance as if it’s her last. Ed thought he was past such dreaming. But in this city, dreams can feel both impossible and achievable in the very same breath. That’s where Late Fame lives.
As director, documentarian Kent Jones creates a true New York movie. Late Fameunderstands the romance of this city, without losing touch of its reality. His ensemble paints a world wonderful, fragile, enduring, and familiar. Lee glimmers then snarls, capturing the highs and lows of working artists now. But Dafoe gives a quiet dignity to the unknown artist, reflecting the beauty of creation, whatever its reach.
Kristy Puchko is the Entertainment Editor at Mashable. Based in New York City, she’s an established film critic and entertainment reporter who has traveled the world on assignment, covered a variety of film festivals, co-hosted movie-focused podcasts, and interviewed a wide array of performers and filmmakers.
