Parting ways from the more famous partner in a entertainment partnership is a risky business. Comedian Larry David went through it. The same for Musician Andrew Ridgeley. Now, this humorous and deeply sorrowful small-scale drama from writer the writer Robert Kaplow and director the director Richard Linklater tells the nearly intolerable account of Broadway lyricist the lyricist Lorenz Hart shortly following his separation from Richard Rodgers. His role is portrayed with flamboyant genius, an unspeakable combover and fake smallness by Ethan Hawke, who is frequently digitally reduced in height – but is also occasionally shot standing in an hidden depression to stare up wistfully at more statuesque figures, confronting Hart's height issue as actor José Ferrer previously portrayed the small-statured artist Toulouse-Lautrec.
Multifaceted Role and Themes
Hawke gets substantial, jaded humor with Hart's humorous takes on the subtle queer themes of the classic Casablanca and the excessively cheerful stage show he just watched, with all the lasso-twirling cowboys; he sarcastically dubs it Okla-queer. The orientation of Lorenz Hart is complicated: this film skillfully juxtaposes his queer identity with the straight persona invented for him in the 1948 stage show the musical Words and Music (with actor Mickey Rooney portraying Lorenz Hart); it intelligently infers a kind of bisexuality from Hart's correspondence to his protege: youthful Yale attendee and would-be stage designer Weiland, acted in this movie with carefree youthful femininity by Margaret Qualley.
Being a member of the renowned musical theater songwriting team with the composer Rodgers, Lorenz Hart was in charge of incomparable songs like The Lady Is a Tramp, the tune Manhattan, My Funny Valentine and of course the song Blue Moon. But exasperated with the lyricist's addiction, undependability and gloomy fits, Richard Rodgers severed ties with him and joined forces with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II to create the musical Oklahoma! and then a raft of stage and screen smashes.
Sentimental Layers
The movie imagines the severely despondent Lorenz Hart in Oklahoma!’s opening night NYC crowd in the year 1943, looking on with covetous misery as the production unfolds, loathing its bland sentimentality, abhorring the punctuation mark at the conclusion of the name, but dishearteningly conscious of how devastatingly successful it is. He realizes a smash when he sees one – and senses himself falling into defeat.
Prior to the intermission, Hart sadly slips away and heads to the pub at Sardi’s where the rest of the film occurs, and anticipates the (inevitably) triumphant Oklahoma! company to show up for their after-party. He knows it is his showbiz duty to compliment Richard Rodgers, to pretend everything is all right. With suave restraint, Andrew Scott acts as Rodgers, clearly embarrassed at what they both know is Hart’s humiliation; he provides a consolation to his ego in the appearance of a temporary job creating additional tunes for their ongoing performance the show A Connecticut Yankee, which just exacerbates the situation.
- Bobby Cannavale plays the barman who in traditional style hears compassionately to Hart's monologues of vinegary despair
- The thespian Patrick Kennedy portrays writer EB White, to whom Lorenz Hart inadvertently provides the notion for his youth literature the novel Stuart Little
- The actress Qualley portrays Weiland, the impossibly gorgeous Ivy League pupil with whom the film imagines Hart to be complexly and self-destructively in love
Lorenz Hart has earlier been rejected by Rodgers. Surely the universe can’t be so cruel as to get him jilted by Elizabeth Weiland as well? But Qualley pitilessly acts a girl who wants Hart to be the giggly, sexually unthreatening intimate to whom she can disclose her exploits with boys – as well of course the Broadway power broker who can promote her occupation.
Standout Roles
Hawke demonstrates that Lorenz Hart somewhat derives observational satisfaction in hearing about these boys but he is also authentically, mournfully enamored with Elizabeth Weiland and the film reveals to us an aspect rarely touched on in movies about the realm of stage musicals or the films: the dreadful intersection between professional and romantic failure. However at some level, Hart is boldly cognizant that what he has accomplished will endure. It’s a terrific performance from Ethan Hawke. This could be a stage musical – but who shall compose the songs?
The movie Blue Moon was shown at the London movie festival; it is available on October 17 in the US, November 14 in the Britain and on the 29th of January in the Australian continent.
