Kent Jones’s Late Fame is a quiet sort of movie about how ambition slowly fades away into a normal, everyday routine. Willem Dafoe plays Ed Saxberger, an aging poet who grinds through a boring postal job in New York City. Out of nowhere, he’s discovered by a group of trendy young art fans and elite college graduates who call themselves the “Enthusiasm Society.” This setup is unlike the legendary movie “Dead Poets Society” helmed by the late Robin Williams evoking its carpe diem message. The movie didn’t go in that direction as I expected.

These are trust fund kids in modern-day NYC who treat bohemian life like a fun trend, digging up Ed’s old poetry just to make themselves look cool. They fancy themselves above their screen-addicted influencer peers, but there’s a superficial layer to it all.

The real energy of the movie is the tension between Dafoe, playing the “aged-out” main character, and Greta Lee, the sexpot of the group. Lee plays an older actress who uses the club as a platform to get noticed. She easily captures Dafoe’s attention, standing apart from the rich kids who are just fronting the movement.

Dafoe and Lee anchor the film, making it feel genuinely real. At its core, it’s a thoughtful story about what happens when past dreams collide with the reality of an ordinary life—and how we navigate the spaces in between.