Late Fame film review: A satire on success
Willem Dafoe shines in a bittersweet comedy skewering the art world’s entitled elite
This is a giant scathing sigh of a film that takes aim at a set of New York artistic elites who rediscover and reclaim a poet from the 1970s in a bid to boost their brands. Directed by Kent Jones and adapted from the Arthur Schnitzler novella by Samy Burch, the setting is transposed from the 19th century to the modern day. Willem Dafoe stars as postal worker and forgotten poet Ed Saxberger who is approached by Wilson Meyers (Edmund Donovan) to hang out at his literary salon. Praising his work and engaging in a bit of stalking, Meyers eventually persuades the down-to-earth Saxberger to take part in a show.
This wonderfully observed satirical comedy, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, strikes a bittersweet tone in its juxtaposition of arrogant youth and the maturity of a life full of experience and disappointment. Saxberger gets caught up in the drama and enthusiasm of a group of aspiring male writers who have the privilege of wealth on their side. It’s fun to begin with, until the dawning realisation that he is just a pawn in an ill thought-out game. Greta Lee pops up as infiltrator Gloria, an actor and Sally Bowles-type cabaret performer who is struggling to make ends meet but putting on a brave face. Saxberger and Gloria begin a flirtation and an alliance of sorts as the only two in the group who actually need to work in order to pay the rent.
The characterisation is nuanced and the performances all credible, with Dafoe deftly navigating Saxberger’s apprehensions with emotional and comical panache. Late Fame interrogates a world curated by entitled and unimaginative men. Often hilarious, it is spot on in its takedown of posers and the power structures that enable only a select few to rise to the top in creative professions.
Late Fame is in cinemas from Friday 4 September.