Anticipate Richard Linklater's BLUE MOON, starring Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart

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The definition of "okay" except for the squid ink pasta for hair on Hawke's head.

https://i.imgur.com/KpvZt0t.jpeg

I actually enjoyed this quite a bit, especially Hawke's performance. I wasn't in a rush to see it, but a few critics who loved it admitted their surprise so I decided to make it out on its opening week.

What probably carries it for me is 1) the genuine goodwill amongst the cast which is appropriate and comes through in the performances, 2) a genuine love for this music that also comes through, and 3) unlike most American movies about musicians or songwriters, this one does an intelligent and spectacular job of detailing Hart's critical perspective of music (i.e. his work and his field), which is a core part of not only him as a songwriter but as a person as well.

(FWIW, there were also moments where Hawke honestly could've been mistaken for actor Ethan Phillips.)

Not enough music!

My review fwiw.

I actually thought the whole argument about Oklahoma! was one of the best parts of the film and fits in with what I said about Hart's critical view of his world. It's not just his view that gets depicted, Rodgers gets his say too, and while there's nothing about Hart's argument that sounds wrong, there's nothing insincere or clueless about Rodger's argument either. It's an intelligent and clear-eyed depiction of two formidable talents agreeing to disagree at completely opposite ends, and it says volumes about their relationship as co-writers. (FWIW, I'm inclined to agree with Hart, but I also don't doubt that Oklahoma! said exactly what Rodgers wanted to say and that he was smart enough to know that Hart would never help him achieve that.)

It's not the content, it's the beats -- we've seen this argument before. The Artist vs the Hack. While, yeah, Linklater makes clear one talent has burned out, it's also clear that the burnout gets the best lines. I'd almost prefer a movie from Rodgers' POV.

To be clear, I never got the impression Rodgers (at least in the film) was doing anything he believed was compromised or pandering, but Hart's disproval is important too. Hart's days may have been numbered, but even with his fears and insecurities on display, I think it's too simple to sort things out as either winning or losing. Ultimately no one controls which of their works speak to the times or connects with a mass audience, but I don't think that matters even if it understandably depresses Hart. If there's a statement to be drawn from his arguments with Rodgers, it's not that one viewpoint is better than the other, it's that the work they produce should be honest and be what they think music or musical theater should be.

(And also a lyricist would expectedly get the best lines over the composer!)

The movie's equivocal at best about how honesty and commerce intersect.

Well, Hart's biggest hit is one he did under orders (as he'll confess), and he loathes it. Rodgers premieres what likely will be his, but he can be completely happy with it. I don't know how many would agree, but I don't think the film's depiction of that success is cynical - Rodgers can enjoy it because it's truly what he wanted to say, not simply a commercial venture.

I really loved this movie — linklater’s best since EWS!!, and hawke’s best performance since…sunset? ever? I totally agree with birdistheword’s take, I found everything about the film — how linklater shoots hawke, the film’s and its characters’ relationship to art — so, so loving. it’s so wonderfully tender. I really felt for hart, an impossibly conflicted aesthete who can never find a way for that beauty to love him back. I thought the scenes with EB white were some of the strongest in the whole film: he’s the only one who really listens to him, and even he leaves without saying goodbye. I wonder what hart’s relationship with his mom is like

weird how this is coming out basically simultaneously with nouvelle vague. sorta like soderbergh's presence and black bag, but there were two months between those two.

while the film was, to its credit, decidedly unsentimental, I was nonetheless enraptured by its discussion of CASABLANCA (I trust its discussion of “Oklahoma!” is similarly sharp, but I’ve seen like, 3 musicals in my life), a film I can’t watch without being moved to tears even the twentieth time. “no one ever loved me that much”. fucking kill me man

I wish the script had instead focused on Hart at the peak of his success so we could've seen how he STILL remains unsatisfied and how he got under Rodgers' skin anyway.

well, that would have been a completely different movie! the script is based on the letters between hart and elizabeth, which date to the time the film was set. I also think rogers’ way of looking at hart, those pained but loving glances, speak for themselves quite powerfully. you instantly know the two have been through some very good and very bad times together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpFyr64Y7Ag

Lorenz "Larry" Hart: Patron Saint of Beautiful Losers?

I suppose this film would hit special with ILX regulars. Haven't we all at one time or another watched with bewilderment as something we find assertively mediocre rockets up the charts/best-seller list/box office tally? But the film does provide an aesthetically satisfying and tragic (specifically, rooted in the protagonist's fatal character flaws) story.

Haven't we all at one time or another watched with bewilderment as something we find assertively mediocre rockets up the charts/best-seller list/box office tally?

Never.

I saw it again this afternoon. every bit as good. hawke and kennedy will be getting some nominations I hope

some wonderfully subtle camera work I picked up on the second time too. the camera is almost always in motion, particularly when focused on hawke. also lol at hawke’s costume

the way rogers talks to him, and even the way eddie and elizabeth do, breaks my heart. the kindest anyone is to him is hammerstein, who is essentially taking his job, and white, who leaves without saying goodbye

I thought Andrew Scott was incredible playing Rodgers, doing amazing work with every perfectly calibrated expression & response, the reticence and restraint holding back all that bittersweet love, pain, and exhaustion, but keeping it grounded without being showy or actorly. Their scenes together were totally electric imo.

yes