“The End of the Tour,” a film about writer David Foster Wallace, will play at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center on Saturday, Sept. 19. Proceeds will go to support Edgartown’s Noepe Center for Literary Arts. Noepe Center director Justen Ahren will introduce the film.
The money raised by the screening will contribute to a Noepe scholarship fund for Island writers. “Scholarships will enable Islanders to study with, and learn from, renowned authors right here in Edgartown,” according to Mr. Ahren. The center has distinguished itself this summer with talks by such prominent authors as Junot Diaz, who won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel “The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”; and the Island’s own Geraldine Brooks, who won a Pulitzer for her novel “March,” and read from her new novel, “The Secret Chord,” back in July.
In addition to hosting literary events, Noepe offers workshops, retreats, and residencies for writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. “The End of the Tour” screening will be the first collaboration between the Film Center and Noepe. Film Center director Richard Paradise said recently, “I’d love to do more literary-film events with Noepe. There’s a vibrancy in films made from great works of literature.” Saturday’s event will include a recording of NPR’s “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross interviewing Mr. Wallace. Dessert and wine will be served following the film.
David Foster Wallace and ‘The End of the Tour’
“The End of the Tour” narrates the sometimes testy relationship between Mr. Wallace, as he finishes going on the road to promote his celebrated novel “Infinite Jest,” and Rolling Stone probationary journalist David Lipsky. It is based on the memoir Mr. Lipsky produced about his five days with Mr. Wallace in 1996, but was not written until after Mr. Wallace’s suicide in 2008. “The End of the Tour” premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and stars Jason Segel (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) as the celebrated novelist and Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”) as the Rolling Stone writer assigned to his story.
Much like the classic 1981 film “My Dinner with André,” which tracks an evening between Wallace Shawn and André Gregory, this new one documents the conversations between the two principals, David Foster Wallace and David Lipsky. The difference is that the two are sharing time while on the road or being shepherded around by Wallace’s tour handler Patty, played by Joan Cusack. Nor are the two equals, with Wallace as the brilliant author and Lipsky — as he says in the movie — more like an aspiring younger brother. Nevertheless the two explore literary issues, celebrity, and lifestyles with some depth as they traverse the wintery Minneapolis landscape where Mr. Wallace is promoting his book.
In his signature eager-beaver style, Mr. Eisenberg waxes enthusiastic and tentatively probing, as he tries to acquire enough information from the somewhat recondite Mr. Wallace to produce a profile. James Ponsoldt directed, and Pulitzer Prizewinner Donald Margulies wrote the screenplay.
The story starts out with Mr. Lipsky in New York, pitching the story to his Rolling Stone editor. He travels to snowy, rural Illinois, where Mr. Wallace teaches at the State University. Mr. Wallace presents himself as diffident, private, and opposed to the perks of celebrity, but he shares enough of himself with Mr. Lipsky that the two start to develop a friendship. Then a falling-out occurs. The exchanges between the two remain powerful, even haunting, and the film, which has already won prizes at regional festivals, is expected to garner Oscar nominations.
The film is also likely to receive a warm welcome on-Island. “I bet we’ll also pack the house for ‘The End of the Tour,’” says Mr. Paradise, a testament to not only the quality of the film but the reputation of Noepe and the programs it sustains. “Noepe is one of those Island cultural treasures I’m sure everyone will want to support.”
“The End of the Tour,” Friday, Sept. 18, Saturday, Sept. 19 (Noepe benefit), 7:30 pm; Sunday, Sept. 20, 4 pm; Tuesday Sept. 24, 7:30 pm. Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, Tisbury Marketplace, Vineyard Haven. Tickets for the Noepe/Film Center benefit go on sale online at mvfilmsociety.com. Tickets are $15 ($12 for MVFS members); additional donations welcome.
