Joe Gould's Secret 2000

In the midst of Manhattan’s vibrant landscape during the early 1940s, a captivating narrative unfolds around the enigmatic figure of Joe Gould (character), a disheveled yet intellectually rich bohemian with a Harvard University pedigree. As he wanders through the streets of Greenwich Village, carrying a tattered portfolio and soliciting donations for his eponymous “The Joe Gould Fund”, Gould’s character is revealed to be a masterful chameleon - capable of exuding calm sweetness and perceptivity one moment, only to morph into a pathological liar or an obnoxious drunk the next. His temperamental nature is further accentuated by sudden outbursts of rage, leaving onlookers both fascinated and unsettled.

As Gould’s fortunes fluctuate, he occasionally secures financial support from prominent artistic figures such as poet E.E. Cummings (character), portrait painter Alice Neel (character), Village Vanguard founder Max Gordon (character), art gallery owner Vivian Marquie (character), and sculptor Gaston Lachaise (character). This benevolent network allows Gould to secure a series of flophouse rooms, eventually graduating to more permanent accommodations in a residential hotel courtesy of an anonymous benefactor.

Gould’s self-proclaimed mission is to collect the observations of everyday citizens, intending to incorporate these fragments into his ambitious oral history of the world - portions of which he has entrusted to various individuals for safekeeping. Mitchell (character), a writer for The New Yorker, first encounters Gould in a coffee shop and is initially captivated by the charismatic storyteller’s colorful persona. However, as time passes and Gould becomes increasingly intrusive and demanding, disrupting the ordinary life shared by Mitchell’s photographer wife and their two daughters, the journalist begins to question the very existence of Gould’s 9 million-word opus - is it a tangible reality or merely the product of his imagination?

One pivotal scene unfolds at an art gallery filled with Lachaise’s work, cleverly filmed on location at Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (20 East 79th). This cinematic moment serves as a microcosm for the larger themes of creativity, perception, and the blurred lines between reality and fantasy that permeate this captivating narrative.