Kent Jones – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

LATE FAME – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

September 3, 2026September 3, 2026 Valerie Kalfrin Edmund Donovan, Greta Lee, Kent Jones, Late Fame, willem dafoe

Late Fame is not so much about a frustrated artist but about someone who, having enjoyed fame once, wonders later in life if he really wants such attention again.

Directed by Kent Jones (Diane), this lived-in New York story stars an understated Willem Dafoe (The Phoenician Scheme) as Ed Saxberger, a bohemian poet of the 1970s now sorting mail as a postal worker. Saxberger lives alone in a modest apartment of bookshelves and cassette tapes of poetry, but mostly, he’s content to shoot pool and joke around with other guys at a neighborhood bar where the female barkeep without asking sets out his favorite sandwich.

Festivals Reviews

LATE FAME (NYFF 2025) – Review by Diane Carson

September 23, 2025September 24, 2025 Diane Carson Edmund Donovan, Greta Lee, Kent Jones, Late Fame, willem dafoe

A thoughtful consideration of, as the title signals, Late Fame post office mail sorter Ed Saxberger wrote an ignored, small book of poetry, Way Past Go, years ago. Prompted by its dominant member Meyers, an arrogant, pretentious group calling itself the Enthusiasm Society discover Saxberger’s poetry and become fawning fans, though it becomes obvious several have not bothered to read the book. Approached out of the blue, flattered, Ed is eventually persuaded to attend the group’s meeting, drinking, and self-congratulatory get togethers. As Saxberger, Willem Dafoe transitions flawlessly from cautious and suspicious—at first thinking the attention is a prank—to enjoying the adulation, until he doesn’t.

Festivals

NEW YORK FILM FEST ’19: Great (but too few) Female Filmmakers – Jennifer Merin reports

October 17, 2019October 20, 2019 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments 5050x2020, agnes varda, alla kovgan, angele schanelec, Céline Sciamma, gender parity, ivy meeropol, joan churchill, justine triet, kelly reichert, Kent Jones, lynn novick, mati diop, New York Film Festival, nyff, Tania Cypriano

Programming for this year’s 57th New York Film Festival, held from September 15 to October 23, suggests that this highly regarded cinema showcase has little regard for the 5050×2020 gender parity initiative. Of the 66 feature films presented in this year’s 26-day schedule, just 11 were directed by women. That’s a mere 16.666666666667%, and a very long short fall from the 50/50 by 2020 goal. That said, the female-directed films that were showcased in this year’s NYFF program are absolutely brilliant. Here’s a run down.

Reviews

DIANE – Review by Martha K. Baker

April 5, 2019April 7, 2019 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments diane, Kent Jones, mary kay place

The chance to see Mary Kay Place star in a film, instead of serve as support in one, means that Diane matters mightily. Place has mattered in every television show or movie she’s made. She has been making movies steadily since 1983 and has decidedly earned this role in Diane.

Reviews

DIANE – Review by Erica Abeel

March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 awfj-admin 0 Comments diane, Kent Jones, mary kay place

middle-aged women have begun moving from the periphery as minor characters to become the center of a film. The heroines of their own lives. This trend could be a reflection of the second coming of Second Wave feminism — at one time a topic as welcome as a Norovirus — and its current prominence in public discourse.

General Archives Reviews Women on Film

LADY IN THE VAN, CHI-RAQ, HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT and Other Dec 4 Openers – Reviews by Jennifer Merin

December 5, 2015December 6, 2015 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments Alan Bennett, Chi-RAQ, Hitchcock/Truffaut, Kent Jones, lady in the van, Maggie Smith, mother Teresa, spike lee, the letters, world of Kanako

Maggie Smith’s smashing performance in The Lady in the Van. Is the driving force in this must-see cinematic version of

Movie of the Week Reviews

AWFJ Movie of the Week, December 1 – December 7: HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

November 30, 2015September 20, 2018 Nikki Baughan 0 Comments Alfred Hitchcock, documentary, Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock/Truffaut, Kent Jones, nell minow, Pam Grady, Sandra Kraisirideja

Opening December 2, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is Hitchcock/Truffaut, filmmaker Kent Jones’ documentary about director Francois Truffaut’s 1966 book Cinema According to Hitchcock, and how it has influenced the work of myriad filmmakers.