{"id":232412,"date":"2025-10-29T17:10:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/232412\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T17:10:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:10:19","slug":"ethan-hawke-is-outstanding-in-richard-linklaters-latest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/232412\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Hawke is outstanding in Richard Linklater’s latest"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLOT: Lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) entertains the patrons of a New York bar on the eve of the premiere of\u00a0Oklahoma!, a play that marks the debut of his former professional partner Richard Rodgers\u2019 (Andrew Scott) new collaboration with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein.<\/p>\n

REVIEW: When people think of Richard Rodgers, they can\u2019t help but picture him as half of Rodgers and Hammerstein \u2014 the Broadway duo behind some of the most iconic musicals of all time, including\u00a0Oklahoma!,\u00a0South Pacific,\u00a0The Sound of Music, and\u00a0The King & I.\u00a0Yet before he teamed up with Hammerstein, Rodgers had another partner: Lorenz Hart. During their heyday, Rodgers and Hart were the toast of Broadway. They were so successful that by 1948, Hollywood had already made a musical biopic about them,\u00a0Words and Music\u00a0\u2014 by which point Hart was already dead.<\/p>\n

Sadly, in the years since, Hart has become something of a footnote in Broadway history. But his story is a fascinating one. A short, self-destructive alcoholic with a razor-sharp wit, Hart was both brilliant and doomed \u2014 a raconteur whose death at only forty-eight surprised no one. In\u00a0Blue Moon, director Richard Linklater gives him the biopic treatment, focusing on one pivotal, tragic moment in his life: the evening he saw\u00a0Oklahoma!\u00a0and realized that Rodgers\u2019 new partnership would cement his immortality \u2014 and leave Hart behind.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a great role for Ethan Hawke (who\u2019s also killing it in The Lowdown<\/a>), but unlike anything he\u2019s done before with Linklater. He completely disappears into Hart, playing him as a man who seems like a joyous social butterfly but carries a deep sadness beneath the charm. It\u2019s a heartbreaking performance \u2014 Hawke at his most vulnerable. Hart defied categorization, especially for his time. While coded as gay, the film also explores his infatuation with a twenty-year-old student, Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley, superb). His relationships with her and with Rodgers define the film \u2014 both use him, in different ways. Elizabeth enjoys his adoration but openly tells him about her crushes, hoping he\u2019ll introduce her to Rodgers. She\u2019s sympathetic, yet manipulative \u2014 exactly the type of person Hart can\u2019t resist. He\u2019s unable to form meaningful connections, constantly deflecting pain with humor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

His closest bond is with Rodgers, though even that has frayed. Rodgers has outgrown Hart, basking in a newfound glow that no longer depends on his old partner. Yet Linklater never vilifies anyone; you understand why people distance themselves from Hart. His need to be loved \u2014 and his self-destructive energy \u2014 weigh heavily on everyone around him.<\/p>\n

Linklater stages the film like a play, confining the action to a single location as characters drift in and out of Hart\u2019s orbit. Standouts include Bobby Cannavale as a gruff bartender who becomes an unlikely confidant, and Patrick Kennedy as writer E.B. White, who\u2019s suffering through his own creative block.<\/p>\n

That said,\u00a0Blue Moon\u00a0won\u2019t be an easy sell. Many viewers probably haven\u2019t heard of Rodgers & Hart \u2014 and might not care to. Truth be told, I didn\u2019t know much about them myself, but the strength of Linklater\u2019s direction and Hawke\u2019s mesmerizing performance quickly drew me in. It\u2019s more user-friendly to newcomers to the topic than Linklater\u2019s own Nouvelle Vague<\/a>, which comes out later this month. It deserves to stand among Hawke\u2019s best work, and it\u2019s high time the Academy recognizes him (it was criminal he wasn\u2019t nominated for\u00a0First Reformed).<\/p>\n

Even if show tunes aren\u2019t your thing, give\u00a0Blue Moon\u00a0a shot. You might find yourself surprised \u2014 and moved.<\/p>\n

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