Willem Dafoe Shines as a Postal Worker and Poet in the Luminous Late Fame

Dafoe plays a forgotten poet whose work inspires a group of young intellectuals

From the writer of 'May/December' and 'Coyote v. Acme' comes a culture-clash drama with a smart sense of humor.

Willem Dafoe stars as a former poet charmed by a group of would-be young artists.

Willem Dafoe is in the midst of a massive year — and he’s playing a character whose life is small by design. In director Kent Jones’ “Late Fame” (out Aug. 7 in New York and Aug. 19 in Los Angeles and other cities), Dafoe plays Ed Saxberger, a postal employee who, in his youth, had…

Late Fame which premiered a year ago this month at the Venice Film Festival is a gem. It is a movie about, among other things, discovery and rediscovery. It may be a year after critics first saw this movie that I am only just discovering it myself as it begins its theatrical engagements, but if…