Blue Moon is dripping with nostalgia, but not the kind you’d think. In its opening scene, Lorenz Hart, played by Ethan Hawke, absolutely rips Oklahoma! to shreds. It’s premiere night for this new, biggest hit of his songwriting partner, Richard Rogers (Andrew Scott), who has teamed up with a new lyricist for the musical due to Hart’s alcoholism.
Hart sees Oklahoma! as the kind of trite mythologizing of the American past that he hates. Over the course of the night, he reminisces with Rogers and others about their memories, but their recollections don’t always line up. That’s the thing about nostalgia – memory and history both have a way of bending the past into convenience. We tell ourselves stories to make sense of what has happened to us, and before long, the stories become our realities and the real truth is lost.
Blue Moon takes place at the afterparty for Oklahoma!’s premiere, and it’s all shot inside the same bar on the same evening. Also attending the afterparty is Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), whom Hart has become infatuated with, despite being twenty years her senior. Hart starts out the movie drunk and gets drunker as the evening goes on, regaling everyone around him with his opinions and stories.
The bar takes on a life throughout the film, and the constant background piano gives it a bit of a wistful feeling. But the one-setting setup also limits the film, making the material feel better suited to a play. It’s all dialogue and performance, and it does begin to feel a bit stuffy and repetitive when all is said and done.
However, if you are going to have a movie that is all dialogue and performance, it helps that the dialogue and performances are all very good. The script has a natural curiosity about Hart and his attitudes and behavior; it highlights his charm but also makes his flaws clear. The regressive social norms of the time are present but not underlined. It’s the type of movie that trusts the audience to think when presented with information.
Ethan Hawke’s performance is very good here too. His performances in Richard Linklater’s films have often hinged on his natural charm; here, he’s very much putting on a character but locates a different kind of charm unique to Lorenz Hart. The performance is just exaggerated enough – particularly because Hawke is playing drunk, but the kind of alcoholic drunk that has been around the block once or twice before.
Unlike Hawke, Margaret Qualley is doing something we’ve seen before. She’s leaning into the traits that have made her a movie star, in a role that calls for gravitas. We are meant to see Elizabeth through Hart’s eyes, and indeed, nearly as much runtime is devoted to Hart describing Elizabeth as actually talking to Elizabeth. I did find myself wishing for more internality to Qualley’s character, though, or some contrasting views to Hart’s. As it is, she is more of an idea than a person.
The material with Richard Rogers fares better, who is played marvelously by Andrew Scott. He forms a contrast with Hart as someone who has his life together, and he also has known Hart for long enough not to be fooled by his charming exterior. I particularly enjoy Scott’s work when it’s quieter like this. He sells a distracted anxiety and excitement about the premiere of the play that’s going on in the background of all the drama with Hart.
Richard Linklater’s ability to make a well-written script sing does stand out. The laughs come easily and he gives his performers the space they need to find their characters. It’s a fully-realized world he’s created here, but one that’s limited by its self-imposed rules of time and location. As such, it’s one of Linklater’s minor works.
