Ethan Hawke Lives for This

"Some biographical movies try to pack the full arc of someone's existence into two hours onscreen. Blue Moon, the nifty new feature from director Richard Linklater, opts instead to cover one night in the life of its subject, the lyricist Lorenz Hart. It's an approach I appreciate, and not just because the more ground a movie tries to cover, the more it risks feeling like Walk Hard, a comedy that should be required viewing for anyone even considering making a biopic."

"Leaning into self-imposed limitations can be liberating for a genre that's always going to be dealing with the greatest limitation of all, which is that no amount of vocal training and prosthetics will ever make an actor into the celebrity or historical figure they're playing. It shouldn't have to - it should be allowed to be a performance - and yet when it comes to real people, we focus on accuracy at the expense of interpretation."

"Ethan Hawke affects a comb-over, a New York accent, and a series of shots carefully rigged to make him look five feet tall in Blue Moon, but he's also clearly playing a character rather than stuck doing an impression. His Lorenz ricochets around the famous Theater District restaurant Sardi's like an increasingly booze-addled pinball, never feeling like he's supposed to represent the man in his entirety but attempting to capture his essence at a major turning point."

"It doesn't hurt that Hart's life isn't as well known as his work is. His partnership with composer Richard Rodgers yielded over two dozen musicals and countless Great American Songbook standards, including the tune for which Blue Moon is named. But on March 31, 1943, when the film takes place, Richard (played by a carefully smoothed-over Andrew Scott) is celebrating the fruits of a new alliance with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney). Oklahoma! has just kicked off what would go on to become a legendary run on Broadway,"

Richard Linklater's Blue Moon confines its narrative to a single night in lyricist Lorenz Hart's life, allowing focus on character essence rather than a full biographical sweep. The film situates the action on March 31, 1943, as Richard Rodgers celebrates the success of Oklahoma! with Oscar Hammerstein II. Lorenz, portrayed by Ethan Hawke, departs the show for personal and professional reasons and drifts through Sardi's in a booze-addled state. Hawke employs a comb-over, a New York accent, and camera tricks to convey physicality while delivering an interpretive performance. The film favors limitation and interpretation over strict accuracy.

Read at Vulture