Willem Dafoe stars as Ed Saxberger, a post office worker in New York. Forty plus years ago, he wrote a poetry book that was well received by critics but has fallen out of print and is now forgotten. One day he is approached in the street by a young man called Meyers (Edmund Donovan), who is the leader of a group of young writers and who says that all of them love Ed’s book. Ed is reluctant at first but meets the group that also includes older actress Gloria (Greta Lee).
It took a little while for Kent Jones’ drama to land for me. It seemed to me that Ed had a good life with a decent job and great friends at his local bar. The literary group was almost entirely made up of spoilt, pretentious, rich boys with large trust funds who do not need to have proper jobs. So, I could not initially understand why Ed was drawn into their orbit. But, thanks to an outstanding turn by Dafoe, Ed’s hidden away frustration about his decades of obscurity become evident. It also becomes clear that Ed can fully see what they are but thinks he may get some recognition by associating with them.
Ed’s relationship with Gloria is quite sweet but becomes more complicated when he finds out more about her. Aside from their moments together, the other outstanding scenes are of Ed walking the streets of the city, desperately trying to come up with lines for a new work he has promised the group.
After a rocky start, I enjoyed Samy Burch’s screenplay, adapted from a 19th Century novella by Arthur Schnitzler, and both Dafoe and Lee shine in a film that got under my skin.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10