City Cinema: Blue Moon

Drama. 14A, language, mature themes.
Dir: Richard Linklater, 2025, US/Ireland, 100 min.
Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Scott.

“Ethan Hawke delivers a once in a lifetime performance as lyricist Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s snappy, banter-driven period piece, Blue Moon. With wide, dark eyes, a diminutive presence, a combover that isn’t fooling anybody, and an effortless gift of gab, Hawke’s turn as Hart is the finest work of his career… On the evening of March 31, 1943 Lorenz ‘Larry’ Hart leaves a Broadway musical theatre performance seconds before the performers on stage take their bow so he can rush on over to Sardi’s for the afterparty. The reasons for his sudden departure from the theatre are twofold. First, he hated the show, Oklahoma!, which featured music from his longtime collaborator Richard Rodgers… Second, he’s keen on impressing his date for the evening, a twenty-year-old college student named Elizabeth… The look and fashion of the era are in full, eye-catching display in Blue Moon, and the dialogue sounds like an uncensored riff on comedies and melodramas from the characters’ time period… Linklater’s direction is energized by his cast, all of whom fit perfectly together like matching puzzle pieces.” “Blue Moon is as close as it gets to a perfect work of art. Exceptionally written, superbly acted, and wonderfully moving, it’s a sucker punch little gem of a film, gripping as it is entertaining… it is a universal, heartfelt feature bound to win you over and stay a part of you for a while. Do not miss it.” —Ana Yorke, Pop Matters