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Breaking up from the more prominent partner in a performance double act is a dangerous endeavor. Comedian Larry David did it. The same for Andrew Ridgeley. Presently, this humorous and deeply sorrowful chamber piece from scriptwriter the writer Robert Kaplow and filmmaker Richard Linklater narrates the almost agonizing tale of Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart shortly following his split from Richard Rodgers. The character is acted with campy brilliance, an notable toupee and artificial shortness by actor Ethan Hawke, who is frequently digitally shrunk in size – but is also occasionally shot placed in an unseen pit to stare up wistfully at heightened personas, facing Hart's height issue as José Ferrer in the past acted the petite Toulouse-Lautrec.

Multifaceted Role and Themes

Hawke earns large, cynical chuckles with Hart’s riffs on the subtle queer themes of the classic Casablanca and the overly optimistic musical he just watched, with all the lasso-twirling cowboys; he sarcastically dubs it Okla-homo. The orientation of Lorenz Hart is complex: this film skillfully juxtaposes his gayness with the heterosexual image created for him in the 1948 theater piece the musical Words and Music (with Mickey Rooney portraying Lorenz Hart); it shrewdly deduces a kind of dual attraction from Hart’s letters to his protege: young Yale student and aspiring set designer the character Elizabeth Weiland, acted in this movie with carefree youthful femininity by actress Margaret Qualley.

As a component of the legendary musical theater lyricist-composer pair with musician Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart was responsible for matchless numbers like the song The Lady Is a Tramp, the number Manhattan, the beloved My Funny Valentine and of course the song Blue Moon. But frustrated by Hart’s alcoholism, unreliability and gloomy fits, Rodgers severed ties with him and teamed up with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II to create the musical Oklahoma! and then a raft of stage and screen smashes.

Sentimental Layers

The picture envisions the profoundly saddened Hart in the show Oklahoma!'s opening night NYC crowd in 1943, observing with jealous anguish as the show proceeds, loathing its mild sappiness, abhorring the exclamation mark at the end of the title, but dishearteningly conscious of how extremely potent it is. He knows a hit when he watches it – and perceives himself sinking into unsuccessfulness.

Prior to the intermission, Hart sadly slips away and goes to the tavern at Sardi’s where the rest of the film unfolds, and anticipates the (certainly) victorious Oklahoma! cast to appear for their after-party. He knows it is his performance responsibility to congratulate Rodgers, to feign everything is all right. With polished control, actor Andrew Scott plays Richard Rodgers, obviously uncomfortable at what they both know is the lyricist's shame; he offers a sop to his pride in the form of a temporary job creating additional tunes for their ongoing performance A Connecticut Yankee, which simply intensifies the pain.

• Bobby Cannavale portrays the bartender who in standard fashion hears compassionately to the character's soliloquies of bitter despondency
• The thespian Patrick Kennedy plays author EB White, to whom Hart unintentionally offers the concept for his youth literature the novel Stuart Little
• The actress Qualley acts as the character Weiland, the unattainably beautiful Yale attendee with whom the picture conceives Lorenz Hart to be complexly and self-destructively in affection

Hart has already been jilted by Richard Rodgers. Certainly the cosmos can’t be so cruel as to have him dumped by Elizabeth Weiland as well? But Qualley mercilessly depicts a youthful female who desires Lorenz Hart to be the chuckling, non-sexual confidant to whom she can disclose her experiences with young men – as well of course the Broadway power broker who can further her career.

Performance Highlights

Hawke reveals that Hart somewhat derives spectator's delight in hearing about these young men but he is also genuinely, tragically besotted with Elizabeth Weiland and the film informs us of an aspect seldom addressed in films about the realm of stage musicals or the movies: the dreadful intersection between career and love defeat. However at a certain point, Hart is boldly cognizant that what he has achieved will persist. It's a magnificent acting job from Ethan Hawke. This might become a stage musical – but who would create the songs?

Blue Moon was shown at the London movie festival; it is out on the 17th of October in the United States, November 14 in the UK and on January 29 in Australia.