Monday 1 May 2023

Joe Gould's Secret (1999 Stanley Tucci)

True story of Greenwich Village eccentric Joe Gould who claims he has written an 'Oral History of the World', gets by on 'donations to the Joe Gould fund', impersonates a seagull and recites silly poetry. Gets the attention of New Yorker writer (Tucci) who starts to write about him, but learns subsequently he's a fraud, a realisation that perhaps comes a bit too late in the film. The sting in the tale is that after he's dead, the writer writes an expose article but then is unable to write another, which we only catch in the end titles, so again, maybe too late.

Tucci's wife is a brilliant photographer and various real folk are referenced, but overall it's a film that doesn't quite work.

Ian Holm plays the title character with gusto. With Hope Davis, Celia Weston (Junebug), Patricia Clarkson, Susan Sarandon, Allan Corduner, Steve Martin.




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