The great Willem Dafoe stars as Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer (Edmund Donovan) appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius. Intoxicated by the attention—and by the alluring presence of Gloria, the group’s “tragic heroine” (a sinuous, Kurt Weill–crooning Greta Lee)—Saxberger gradually reckons with the authenticity of his newfound poetic circle.
This thoughtful, witty film from Kent Jones (Diane, Hitchcock/Truffaut), working from a sly and hugely entertaining script by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Samy Burch (May December), is a wistful yet unromantic look at a lost idea of downtown New York.