There’s no one else in cinema who has perfected the hangout movie like Richard Linklater. Every film – regardless of genre or subject matter – is always packed with fascinating characters who are so consistently compelling you can’t help but just spend as much time with them as possible. in “Blue Moon,” Linklater takes his signature hangout style approach and applies it to a one night chamber period piece “biopic” set in the world of early 1940s musical theater, a time of transition among the greats and the languishing regret of a self destructive genius. If that sounds like a lot, don’t worry. “Blue Moon” is stripped down to its bare bones, operating more like a character study of Lorenz Hart‘s tragic end than anything else. It pulses with a razor sharp script and career best performance from Ethan Hawke.
Even without an already established love of musical theater or knowledge of Hart, “Blue Moon” communicates everything you need to know about the scene almost instantaneously and sets you on a spiral of monologues and witty banter than never stops being entertaining. To bring anyone not in the know up to speed, “Blue Moon” follows famed song writer Lorenz Hart, a man of small stature (he was notoriously short and the film does some clever trickery to show it in camera) but big talent and an even bigger, mile a minute mouth. The former partner of Richard Rogers and responsible for classic hits like “My Funny Valentine,” “That Lady is a Tramp” and of course “Blue Moon,” Hart struggles with alcoholism and depression, two things that have fractured their relationship and caused Rogers to find a new partner in Oscar Hammerstein II. Most people even slightly familiar with musical theater will know the famed pair of Rogers and Hammerstein, and “Blue Moon” follows Hart on the opening night of the new pair’s first big hit “Oklahoma!” While he waits at the bar of the restaurant where everyone is set to celebrate their new smash hit.
Hawke chews through pages and pages and pages of dialogue with one regaling monologue after another, displaying a broken man stuck in the past of his accomplishments and an inability to recognize the only thing standing in the way is himself. “Blue Moon” is really about the Hart and Rogers breakup, tightly focused on Hart’s broken heart as he realizes he will be left behind and longing for his friend and collaborator’s love and lost success. He misplaces his rejection into the unrequited love for Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), a young college girl who enjoys Hart’s admiration but really just wants to rub shoulders with Rogers (Andrew Scott) and be young, wild and free. Hawke does some immense heavy lifting; not because the script or staging or framing calls for it, but because “Blue Moon” thrusts upon him nearly 85% of every word spoken and asks him to be so many things beneath the words that spill out over the bar.
Hawke is dazzling and dizzying, never given a minute to breath and never lets you catch your breath. Just when you think he couldn’t possibly launch into another diatribe about Elizabeth and her beauty or the long winded story behind compositions, “Blue Moon” makes Hart do it over and over again. It’s such a challenging test and Hawke passes with flying colors, diving in head first into an unreliable narrator and skewed perspective as we sit back and watch this messy bitch implode on himself with each passing minute. “Blue Moon” is tragically beautiful, making you want to hug Hart one minute and completely shun him the next. It’s the tortured artist on full display in a balanced, masterful approach from Linklater, who makes listening to the old drunk at the end of bar filled with regret and talking to anyone who would listen one of the most entertaining 90 minutes you’ll spend with one.
It really is just a showcase for Hawke and his often overlooked talent, the kind of performance that fires a flare of recognition into the night sky and announces his arrival. “Blue Moon” is comprised of so many things I love in cinema: small cast firing on all cylinders, a singing location chamber piece, tight framing and electric dialogue. The musical theater layer is just a cherry on top of a cinema sundae I will eat up every single time. “Blue Moon” is as close to a one man show a cinema can get, and while everyone else is pretty solid, the film is intentionally the Ethan Hawke show. We are watching a man at the edge of his rope hanging in the balance, clinging to anything he has left to keep from falling as we hang on every single word he speaks. Robert Kaplow’s script is electric and sharp and exhaustive in the best of ways. It has so much to say and does so concisely and pogiantly, never losing sight of its thematic intentions or getting in the way of its own cleverness.
“Blue Moon” is a character study of genius, brought to life by a powerhouse performance from Hawke, a sharp script and a soft touch from Linklater’s hangout direction. I really loved this one, and like most Linklater films I didn’t want it to end. I could simply watch Hart waste away with regret but fighting it with a sharp tongue for hours and hours. Both Kaplow and Linklater demonstrate a ton of empathy for a complex, self destructive character, and it comes through in Hawke’s embodiment. “Blue Moon” never indicts Hart, but it never lets him off the hook either. It’s such a tricky balance and even more rare for a film to have the script, the star and the director all on the same page to communicate all of that to an audience.
“Blue Moon” is made for me, and in a just world Hawke would be on the Academy Award Best Actor list. He still may get there, so don’t count him out and don’t be surprised. He’s THAT good.
“Blue Moon” caught me standing alone, made me fall in love, left me humming a jaunty tune and set still my cigarette heart.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
“Blue Moon” is now playing in select theaters. You can watch the trailer below.
