The role of the half-mad Gould is a gift you’d want to give only to the most worthy actor, and Ian Holm does it extravagant justice. This great English actor makes Gould hilarious, scary, tragic, pitiable and exasperating, sometimes all at once. “Joe Gould’s Secret” is the story of his long relationship with Mitchell (Stanley Tucci), whom he loftily refers to as “my biographer.” We react to Gould with much of the complexity Mitchell does: fondness and awe alternating with distaste.
Tucci, who directed and did a rewrite on Howard Rodman’s smart screenplay, is investigating the tangled interplay between a journalist and his subject. “A story doesn’t end just because a writer has finished writing,” cautions Mitchell’s wife (Hope Davis) when her husband is fed up with Gould’s invasion of his life. When Mitchell’s profile of him is published, the brush with fame inflames Gould’s already unruly ego. People, the reporter discovers, have the unfortunate habit of refusing to be stories. “Joe Gould’s” reach sometimes exceeds its grasp. It has a stop/start rhythm. Unlike Tucci’s “Big Night,” this one never rises to a full boil. Yet few films have captured the look and feel of ’40s New York with such quiet assurance. This literate, nuanced miniaturist history dusts off a quirky corner of our past and brings it to life with wit and TLC.
Joe Gould’s Secret USA Films Open
