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Breaking up from the more famous collaborator in a performance double act is a dangerous affair. Larry David went through it. Likewise Musician Andrew Ridgeley. Currently, this humorous and heartbreakingly sad small-scale drama from screenwriter Robert Kaplow and filmmaker Richard Linklater narrates the nearly intolerable story of musical theater lyricist Lorenz Hart just after his split from Richard Rodgers. He is played with flamboyant genius, an dreadful hairpiece and artificial shortness by Ethan Hawke, who is often technologically minimized in size – but is also occasionally shot positioned in an hidden depression to gaze upward sadly at more statuesque figures, confronting Hart's height issue as José Ferrer in the past acted the small-statured Toulouse-Lautrec.

Complex Character and Motifs

Hawke gets large, cynical chuckles with Hart's humorous takes on the subtle queer themes of the classic Casablanca and the excessively cheerful stage show he recently attended, with all the lariat-wielding cowhands; he bitingly labels it Okla-queer. The orientation of Lorenz Hart is multifaceted: this picture skillfully juxtaposes his queer identity with the straight persona fabricated for him in the 1948 musical the production Words and Music (with Mickey Rooney playing Hart); it cleverly extrapolates a kind of bisexual tendency from Hart's correspondence to his protege: youthful Yale attendee and budding theater artist the character Elizabeth Weiland, portrayed in this film with carefree youthful femininity by the performer Margaret Qualley.

Being a member of the renowned New York theater composing duo with composer Rodgers, Hart was in charge of incomparable songs like the classic The Lady Is a Tramp, Manhattan, My Funny Valentine and of course the song Blue Moon. But frustrated by Hart’s alcoholism, unreliability and gloomy fits, Richard Rodgers severed ties with him and partnered with the writer Oscar Hammerstein II to write Oklahoma! and then a multitude of stage and screen smashes.

Psychological Complexity

The picture envisions the deeply depressed Hart in the show Oklahoma!'s premiere NYC crowd in 1943, observing with jealous anguish as the performance continues, loathing its mild sappiness, detesting the exclamation mark at the finish of the heading, but dishearteningly conscious of how devastatingly successful it is. He understands a hit when he sees one – and feels himself descending into failure.

Before the break, Lorenz Hart miserably ducks out and goes to the bar at the venue Sardi's where the rest of the film takes place, and anticipates the (inevitably) triumphant Oklahoma! cast to arrive for their after-party. He realizes it is his performance responsibility to praise Rodgers, to feign all is well. With smooth moderation, Andrew Scott acts as Rodgers, clearly embarrassed at what both are aware is the lyricist's shame; he provides a consolation to his self-esteem in the form of a short-term gig composing fresh songs for their ongoing performance the musical A Connecticut Yankee, which just exacerbates the situation.

• Actor Bobby Cannavale portrays the bartender who in traditional style attends empathetically to Hart's monologues of bitter despondency
• Patrick Kennedy portrays writer EB White, to whom Hart unintentionally offers the idea for his youth literature the novel Stuart Little
• Qualley portrays the character Weiland, the impossibly gorgeous Yale attendee with whom the movie imagines Lorenz Hart to be complicatedly and self-harmingly in love

Lorenz Hart has earlier been rejected by Richard Rodgers. Surely the world couldn't be that harsh as to get him jilted by Weiland as well? But Qualley ruthlessly portrays a youthful female who wants Hart to be the chuckling, non-sexual confidant to whom she can reveal her experiences with boys – as well of course the theater industry influencer who can advance her profession.

Standout Roles

Hawke demonstrates that Hart somewhat derives voyeuristic pleasure in hearing about these guys but he is also truly, sadly infatuated with Weiland and the film informs us of something seldom addressed in films about the world of musical theatre or the movies: the dreadful intersection between career and love defeat. Yet at a certain point, Lorenz Hart is boldly cognizant that what he has achieved will persist. It’s a terrific performance from Hawke. This may turn into a stage musical – but who will write the songs?

The film Blue Moon was shown at the London film festival; it is out on 17 October in the US, November 14 in the UK and on the 29th of January in the Australian continent.