Late Fame

Four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe is Ed Saxberger, a postal worker whose former life as a downtown poet in late-‘70s New York is rediscovered by a young admirer and his “Enthusiasm Society,” a group of 20-somethings with a comically romanticized sense of the past, who anoint Ed a forgotten genius.Intoxicated by the attention of his new friends, including the mysterious and mercurial Gloria (Greta Lee, Past Lives), Ed has the uncanny feeling of merging with his younger self, while gradually reckoning with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle. Directed by Kent Jones (Diane), from a witty, razor-sharp script by Samy Burch (May December), Late Fame is a witty, wistful, yet unromantic look at former glory and a lost idea of downtown New York. (Dir. by Kent Jones, 2025, USA, 96 mins., Not Rated)