Genius (2016)

This is a somewhat intense but very enjoyable movie looking at the relationship, both personal and professional, between the writer Thomas Wolfe (played very intensely by Jude Law) and his editor at Scribner, Max Perkins (beautifully underplayed by Colin Firth).  Wolfe was a prolific writer, who spewed out dozens of pages of writing every day, and yet it was largely incomprehensibly but perfectly worded.  He had a manic quality about him.  Like his temporal lobe was over stimulated and he couldn't stop writing.  he thought he was a genius, but no one saw it until Max Perkins.  He had been repeatedly rejected by other publishing houses, but Max saw a glimmer of brilliance in him, and he worked doggedly with Wolfe to pare down the thousands of pages into something manageable.  Look Homeward Angel was published as Wall Street was literally crashing down and yet it managed to be a huge success, and they were able to work together to publish one additional book together.  But that was it, because the process was very painful for Wolfe, and he felt bound in by Perkins rather than altogether grateful.   The work of a great editor is a thankless one.  Perkins had a glorious career, in that he discovered not only Wolfe but also F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.