Joe Gould's Secret

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Joe Gould's Secret ★★½ 2000 (R)

Tucci directed, co-wrote, and stars as Joe Mitchell, famed “New Yorker” columnist who chronicled, among many others, the peculiar life of Greenwich Village eccentric Joe Gould in the 1940s. Gould (Holm) lived on the streets of New York for 26 years, regaling the intelligensia with wild stories and behavior while claiming to be writing the “Oral History of Our Time,” which he said was two million words long and contained the fruits of 20,000 overheard conversations. The film quietly (except when Holm's Gould is onscreen) and effectively explores the relationship between Mitchell and Gould, and the reasons for Mitchell's fascination with his subject. 108m/C VHS, DVD . Stanley Tucci, Ian Holm, Hope Davis, Patricia Clarkson, Steve Martin, Susan Sarandon, Celia Weston, Allan Corduner, Alice Drummond, Julie Halston, Hallee Hirsh, Ben Jones, John Tormey, David Wohl, Patrick Tovatt, Sarah Hyland; D: Stanley Tucci; W: Howard A. Rodman, Stanley Tucci; C: Maryse Alberti; M: Evan Lurie.