Late Fame

Poetry in Commotion

Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I will call either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.  However, due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns on my part I’m focusing on streaming these days with limited visits to theaters.  (Note: Anything here in bold blue [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or in the review.)  This blog’s been operational since mid-December 2011, often with ridiculously-long reviews from me, but other ongoing responsibilities now require me to be very brief in order to have time to post anything each week, although I’ll include links to informative sites for useful enhancement.

My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)

However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit this explanatory site.

1/5/2026—In reference to this blog’s current limitations as noted in the red announcement just above, this week’s been especially busy for me so I’ve got to keep the contents of this posting even shorter than usual which is a shame because Late Fame is quite a strong film with another outstanding performance from Willem Dafoe in an unusual topic, so I encourage you to delve into the links I’ve provided (with Spoilers I admit) to get a much fuller understanding of what transpires here.

          Late Fame (Kent Jones)   Not Rated    97 min.

Here’s the trailer:

        (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

        activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

 

 The basic plot here is Ed Saxberger (Dafoe) has lived in NYC for 50 years, in the 1970s he was among the local bohemian poets, published one book of his work—Way Past Go—then faded from that scene, now works a routine job sorting mail at a Lower Manhattan post office.  Suddenly, he’s rediscovered by a group of wannabe art influencers who invite him into their circle, show him great respect, want to revive his career which both fascinates and frightens him; for extensive plot details you can go to this site.  Late Fame opened in a limited number of domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on August 7, 2026, has grossed a mere $560 thousand ($593 thousand worldwide)—maybe it’s a bit too esoteric for a wider audience—is now available through streaming where you can rent it for just $5.99 from Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV.  The CCAL is enthused about this film as the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are at 94%, the normally-lower Metacritic average score is 77% (one of their best results for something they and I have reviewed in quite awhile, I'll gladly say).

 

 Among its admirers is Owen Gleiberman of Variety (MC 90): “One of the common observations about filmmakers like Jean Renoir, Robert Altman, and Jonathan Demme is that they see the humanity of everyone onscreen. That’s abundantly true of Kent Jones […] What’s driving that camera, in a word, is curiosity.”  Of course, I always try to find you a dissenting opinion to help in making your watching decision, but this time such rejection was hard to come by so even as I cite Anna Smith of TimeOut (MC 60) she still has supportive comments: “Much like its hero, Late Fame drifts towards a conclusion rather than following a clear sense of purpose, but it does so with grace. Like the poetry, it’s sure to find an appreciative audience.”  While you’re deciding your interest, here’s my brief (in keeping with the reality of this review) Musical Metaphor, the Simon & Garfunkel "Bookends Theme" (1968 Bookends album) with the thought that, unlike today, Ed’s much-earlier life was “A time of innocence / A time of confidences.”  Now, neither of those seem real.

 (In this photo Pat on left, Ken on right.)  If you’d like to know more about the Two Guys “wisdom” in this blog you can go here for links to our past reviews, our homepage, our Facebook page, sign-up for a Google account to reply to us, & Ken Burke’s email address if you want direct correspondence.

        

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Finally, Google says that over the past month the total unique hits at our  Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark site were 81,566.   (We thank all of you for your support with hopes you’ll continue as or become regular readers.)  Below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (appreciation too for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):