Director: Kent Jones
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, Edmund Donovan
Screenplay: Samy Burch
96 mins. Not Rated.

More time has been spent discussing the rules and requirements behind great art than has been spent actually discussing great art. It seems like, as a society, every person has a hierarchy, and human beings feel better if they can organize things into simple boxes rather than just enjoy the beauty that others have created. Such is seemingly the case behind director Kent Jones’s new film Late Fame and its dissection of what matters most to us as individuals, to groups, and to society when it comes to the created word.

Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe, American Psycho) is a poet who published one collection decades ago that came and went, and he never expected it to ever come to anything. Now, a young collective of artists, led by Meyers (Edmund Donovan, Civil War) have discovered his work, and they invite him into their fold, but that was a life Saxberger left behind years ago. As he entertains the idea of accessing his artistry once again, he circles a young theater actress named Gloria (Greta Lee, Past Lives) who he can’t quite understand and wonders if he still has a talent for the written word after all this time.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen a Willem Dafoe performance that wasn’t inherently unhinged or wildly over-the-top that I’d almost forgotten what an excellent actor he is when just playing regular human beings. It’s as though my mind had prepped me for a character turn that was never there, but he’s so charming and warmly comfortable throughout the whole movie that I wish we got more of his normality in other films. It’s clear that Ed Saxberger has gotten comfortable in his routine that the inclusion of these fanboys and most notably Gloria that it upsets his very equilibrium. I also loved seeing a lead character who feels so out of his element and authentic, both in the generational gaps between Ed and his new colleagues and also in attempting and failing to woo Gloria.

So much time is spent on the nature and value of both art and criticism in Late Fame (it’s no surprise that its director was a critic), and I found the way it determines Ed’s past and his reluctance to return to be profoundly moving. The idea that the best type of artistic creation comes from suffering, and these young people in his circle pretend to suffer, living behind a facade of pain, unable to conjure anything real from it. It also seems like Ed is not interested in breaking down the work (though he benefits from all the appreciation his new friends send his way), and Dafoe’s interaction with his bar buddies when he reveals his poetry is both heartbreaking and anxiety-inducing. Screenwriter Samy Burch(May December) is great at mining story out of character work and elevating what would seem slight into something more powerful and staying. Kent Jones has a light touch as a director, letting his well-drawn characters do the work for him. Those looking for an interesting pairing for Late Fame should check out Jones’s documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut for more great art discussion. The only element missing from his treatise on artistry is a lack of actually diving into the creation of the work, which would have brought the entire film home in a more satisfying way.

Late Fame is a quietly powerful look at the art world from the perspectives of those who once lived it and those who like to look like they live it. Dafoe, Lee, and Donovan are great here, and Dafoe in particular captivates in each small moment. It’ll be easy to miss this one when it releases in August, but viewers looking for a strong character piece should seek it out before it’s too late.

4/5
-Kyle A. Goethe