“Late Fame,” by Kent Jones, playing at the M.V. Film Center on Friday, Sept. 25, is a quiet story adapted from an Arthur Schnitzler novella. It follows the aging Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe), a former poet working a humdrum Post Office job in New York City, who is “rediscovered” by a young admirer, Wilson Meyers (Edmund Donovan), after Meyers reads Saxberger’s long-out-of-print poetry book from the late 1970s, “Way Past Go.”
Saxberger lives a simple existence, spending time with friends from work at an unassuming local bar after a day at the Post Office. His beat poet–like days are long forgotten until Meyers tracks him down outside his Soho apartment, having lived in the neighborhood since he was 17. Saxberger is bemused by Meyers’ admiration, as Meyers tries to convince him of his importance: “You wrote a masterpiece, whether people know about it or not. Nothing can alter that; that’s forever … It’s as if the poems were written yesterday … They just slap you across the face with their style and relevancy. They’re timeless.”
Meyers, dotingly, implores Saxberger to visit with his literary group, the Enthusiasm Society, composed of young poets, artists, and intellectuals who pride themselves on the authenticity of their art and disdain today’s social media influencers. When Saxberger joins the group at the local café, the members embrace him with reverence. To promote the society, Meyers, like a contemporary Diaghilev, convinces everyone to put on an old-fashioned reading. Titling it “What It Is Now,” Meyers states, “It says we’re standing up against negativity, vulgarization, the monetization of everything. The coarsening of culture.”
As time passes, we grow uneasy with Meyers’ rhetoric, as he spouts pretentious lines such as, “The reverence for art is what binds us together.” And for all his disdain for capitalism, his ultra-modern downtown apartment, bought by his parents because it was cheaper than paying for the dorms while he was pursuing his master’s at NYU, speaks to a double standard echoed in the hyper-privileged lives of the other members.
As the group prepares for the event, they convince Saxberger to write something new for one of their members to perform: the enigmatic, free-spirited Gloria (Greta Lee), an aspiring actor and singer in the circle who is the object of everyone’s infatuation. Despite their age differences, she and Saxberger develop an intriguing connection that defies easy classification.
As the big literary showcase approaches, the question arises whether this late-life adoration can reignite Saxberger’s artistic spark, or if he is just a novelty to wealthy hipsters.
“Late Fame” screens at the M.V. Film Center on Friday, Sept. 25. For tickets and more information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
