Late Fame — Review

Kent Jones' Late Fame is a quiet indie drama that seems simple on the surface but has so much to say about art, aging, fame, and generational divides. Based on Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler's posthumously published novella of the same name, Samy Burch's screenplay transports the story to modern-day New York City. This is not the first time a Schnitzler novella has been reimagined as a story set in contemporary New York; Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999) similarly transformed Schnitzler's Dream Story into a modern city setting. Both adaptations demonstrate the enduring relevance of Schnitzler's themes across different time periods and countries. The publication history of Late Fame itself creates an intriguing parallel with the film's central premise. Schnitzler wrote the novella in 1894–1895, but it remained unpublished until 2014. Likewise, the film follows a poet whose work goes unrecognized until decades after it was written. Willem Dafoe stars as that poet, Ed Saxberger, and his performance is the glue holding Late Fame together.