The review is in…and it’s a rave! Set over one evening in a single location and unfurling in real time, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is a riveting chamber piece powered by an impeccable, tour-de-force lead performance. Lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) arrives at famed Broadway restaurant Sardi’s for the opening night party of Oklahomo!—sorry, that’s Hart’s joke in the movie—Oklahoma!, composed by his former creative partner Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), who has begun working with a new writing partner, Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney).
After collaborating on nearly thirty shows with Rodgers—resulting in enduring classic songs such as “My Funny Valentine”, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”, and the titular staple of the Great American Song Book—Hart is feeling unmoored, bitter, and betrayed. To compound his envy of Rodgers’ new working arrangement that excludes him, as the reviews start to come in, it is clear that Oklahoma! is going to be a huge hit.
The night is March 31st, 1943, in the midst of the Second World War. We meet Hart as he flees the show early and settles onto his barstool for what is obviously an all too common evening of heavy drinking. Despite the whiskey, he is a captivating raconteur, with Eddie the barman (a terrific Bobby Cannavale) as his audience as he waits for Rodgers, Hammerstein and the rest of the Oklahoma! party to arrive. His attention also briefly flutters to engage others at the bar, writer E. B. White (Patrick Kennedy), who would go on to pen Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web, and the handsome young Troy (Giles Surridge).
Hart, who died later that year at the age of 48, was a gifted wordsmith and Robert Kaplow’s smart and energetic screenplay convincingly captures his playfulness and skill with language. It is also peppered with biographical facts without ever feeling forced. While Hawke brings that mile-a-minute dialogue to life with a breathtaking bravura performance that really drives the film and is perhaps the apex of the actor’s collaborations with Linklater thus far, which go back thirty years to Before Sunrise.
Although Hart is enamored by the beauty and charm of a woman in her twenties, Elizabeth (an entrancing Margaret Qualley)—whom he has been writing to and is eagerly awaiting the arrival of with the gift of a flower arrangement—sexually Hart’s interest is in men. Given the era, he is forced to be somewhat discreet, but there is a poetic reflection on the promise of a semi-erect penis, which he shares with Eddie, that confirms his true desires. While he also lands a funny joke about a restless homosexual, with a punchline that plays on the word indefatigable, making it inde-fag-igable, which Eddie later attempts to repeat but butchers.
When Elizabeth finally arrives, and the two steal away to the coat check closet for some privacy, Hart shifts from delivering his contrast stream of speech to rapt listener, taking vicarious pleasure in the details she shares about the men she is dating, including recounting a steamy sex scene. Becoming such an intent listener allows yet another, more tender layer of Hawke’s perforamnce to reveal itself.
Andrew Scott (also at TIFF in the third Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man)—who won the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Supporting Performance for the role at the Berlinale, where Blue Moon world premiered—offers typically rich, arresting and nuanced work here. We immediately feel the history between his Rodgers and Hawke’s Hart, their mutual love and deep familiarity. Scott imbues Rodgers with a touching patience and degree of pity for his former collaborator, and has clearly had many similar interactions with Hart over the years, before his alcoholism destroyed their partnership.
Hart was a little over five feet tall, and the dimensions of consume designer Consolata Boyle’s suit for Hawke, elements of Susie Cullen’s exquisite production design, like a low barstool, and some in-camera trickery all help to convey his small stature. While some of those techniques do occasionally distract, fleetingly drawing attention to themselves, they nevertheless get the point across.
Cinematographer Shane F. Kelly, who worked with Linklater on the Oscar-winning Boyhood, delivers a masterclass in how to keep a single location feeling fresh and alive. While Sandra Adair’s editing adds to the dynamism of Kaplow’s writing, capturing Hart’s emotional state and the fizz of an opening night. The score by Graham Reynolds, another frequent Linklater collaborator, is a delight, and the soundtrack cleverly incorporates many of Hart’s most famous lyrics and Rodgers’ melodies.
Linklater has created a fascinating portrait and beautifully bittersweet tribute. Every aspect of Blue Moon deserves to be in the Oscars conversation this awards season.
By James Kleinmann
Blue Moon received its Canadian premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival and is the opening night selection of NewFest’s 37th New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival on October 9th. Opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on October 17th, 2025, expanding nationwide on October 24th.
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