NZIFF: Late Fame (Kent Smith, 2026)

 When he is recognised on the street by a young poet, Meyers (Edmund Donovan), Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe) finds his settled life upended.

Swept into Meyers’ club of young artists, Saxberger is shocked to discover they are fans of a poetry collection he published as a young man.

Gratified by the attention - especially from actress Gloria (Greta Lee) - Saxberger joins the group.

Will the group inspire his muse? Or is the group just using Saxberger to trigger their own?

There is no way I would have seen this film without the festival. I like Willem Dafoe, but I do not keep up with his filmography.

I am glad I did.

Based on a novel by Arthur Schnitzler, the film is a perceptive, quietly satirical take on malaise and the desire to harken back to an imagined past.

Saxberger is introduced going about his days - working at the post office, drinking with friends.

He seems to be going through the motions of a routine.

When he is drawn into the group, it feels like he is suddenly energised.

There is an uneasy tension to the group’s dynamic - there is a vampiric quality to Meyers, and the way he and his friends seem to be more interested in the aesthetics of a Pat age.

Most of the people they associate with Saxberger are people he himself looked up to - the key difference is that he actually interacted with them. To him, Allen Ginsberg was a person, not a remote ideal stripped of humanity and context.

Saxberger also feels like a leftover from an earlier version of New York - a more egalitarian and desperate time, before the city remade itself for the wealthy parents of Meyers’ group.

The film plays on ego and vanity the club are a group of rich kids cosplaying as poor artists.

This is foregrounded in a hilariously deadpan scene in which our protagonist visits Meyers’ apartment. Dafoe never leans toward the joke. 

What makes the film fascinating is that Saxberger is not as invigorated as his new friends hope.

His interest is more human - he is a lonely man who sees an opportunity to connect with a woman.

Lee’s Gloria is the most heightened of the group - and the performer keeps that mask up for most of the runtime. Her front is a way to both join the group, and shelter her internal self.

 

It is a deceptively broad performance - but it is one of the elements that maintains the film’s underlying tension:

This group goes on about wanting to get at something more real - but they are ultimately all putting on a show for each other.

Jake Lacey has a great one-scene role as a wealthy editor who is interested in publishing Saxberger’s memoir - a sign of how is already being converted into an artefact of the past.

A great New York movie, and a fantastic showcase for Dafoe.