![\"Late](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/late-fame-2.jpg\"\/)
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A chance meeting with Wilson Meyers (Edmund Donovan), a young writer with ambition bursting out of his turtleneck, leads Saxberger to The Enthusiasm Society, a group composed of sprightly writers (read: New York nepo babies). They become his devoted disciples as they excitedly plan a recital where he can premiere new material. However, his attention is drawn to flamboyant actor\/singer and self-described ing\u00e9nue Gloria Gardener (Greta Lee). The subtlety of Dafoe\u2019s grounded performance clashes beautifully with Lee\u2019s flirtatious theatricality; she sidesteps Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl clich\u00e9 with wonderfully sarcastic declarations: \u201cThere is nothing more exciting than a rediscovered male genius.\u201d Though she has two impressive set-pieces, you can\u2019t help but crave more screen time for Lee and her velvety croon.<\/p>\n
Willem Dafoe\u2019s stripped-back performance is a compelling treat.<\/p>\n
Samy Burch comfortably adapts Arthur Schnitzler\u2019s posthumously published 1895 novella for contemporary New York, while Jones frames dialogue as if it\u2019s poetry, with staccato back-and-forth cuts before still shots imitating a breath between stanzas. Still, as Late Fame settles into its lyrical rhythm, following Saxberger as he roams the streets with acute familiarity, Dafoe\u2019s poetic voice-over does teeter towards the sentimentality that it satirises.<\/p>\n
Jones flits between Saxberger\u2019s \u201clowbrow\u201d pool-bar pals and lowlight literary events without judgement. Saxberger\u2019s writer\u2019s block, Meyers\u2019 snobbery and Gardener\u2019s aspiration are all regarded with dignity. Even the film\u2019s conclusion, a sort of unflashy anti-climax, feels wise; like a ruminative line of meaningful poetry that lingers in the silence.<\/p>\n
Willem Dafoe\u2019s stripped-back performance is a compelling treat in this low-key but moving intergenerational portrait of ambitious writers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York poet Ed Saxberger\u2019s (Willem Dafoe) passion for writing is rekindled when a group of young admirers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-616725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}