Late Fame

Ed Saxberger is an old man in New York. He published a book of poems in his youth and nobody remembers it; he has not written for a long time. One day there is a knock at the door. A group of young people have found him: they have read the book, passed it among themselves, and see him as a forgotten master. They invite him to their gatherings. He goes. The group treats him with respect and asks him to read a new poem at an evening they are arranging. The man has to do again what he has not done in years. Kent Jones directs. Willem Dafoe plays Saxberger; Greta Lee is in the cast. The source is Arthur Schnitzler's short novel; the text was found and published long after the writer's death. The matter it works at is the wish to be recognised and the lateness of it; the film criticises both the old man and the young group. The younger generation's admiration is sincere in the narrative and also functional; the group is looking for a name to establish its own position. Kent Jones was known as a writer on cinema and this is among his works in fiction. The narrative rests largely on talk and the pace is deliberately kept low. The film ends on the evening of the performance and the narrative offers no triumph there. Who it is for: viewers who like literary adaptation and quiet character films. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and the narrative is deliberately cold.