'Late Fame' at The Nightlight 🎬

“It’s a lovely slice of life, a heartfelt New York story.” – Xan Brooks, The Guardian
Willem Dafoe plays a post office employee who, in his youth, wrote a book of poetry that has been "rediscovered" by a group of aspiring artists and writers. When they track him down and invite him for drinks and to tell him how much he means to them, he is conflicted. Like anyone, he appreciates the compliments, but he's wary because it's for a life he long ago left behind. You see, the kids who have adopted him are looking to create their own art movement, and may be more into the ideas than the art. He sees that, and yet it still reawakens the poetic impulses within him. Willem Dafoe gives another stunning performance that captures the ambitions and inner conflict of an everyday man. Based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1895 novella (the same guy who wrote the story that inspired Eyes Wide Shut), and adapted by Samy Burch (May December), Late Fame is a touching story about legacy, hero worship, and rediscovering the artist within yourself. -Siff
In “Late Fame,” a finely crafted character study starring Willem Dafoe, Ed learns that being the oldest person in the room is fun if you fall in with the right group of young people—but also that it’s tough to know if the group is right until you’re in it. - Roger Ebert