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Breaking up from the more famous colleague in a performance duo is a risky endeavor. Larry David went through it. So did Andrew Ridgeley. Presently, this witty and profoundly melancholic chamber piece from screenwriter Robert Kaplow and filmmaker the director Richard Linklater recounts the nearly intolerable story of Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart right after his split from Richard Rodgers. His role is portrayed with campy brilliance, an unspeakable combover and simulated diminutiveness by actor Ethan Hawke, who is frequently digitally shrunk in size – but is also sometimes recorded standing in an hidden depression to look up poignantly at more statuesque figures, confronting Hart’s vertical challenge as José Ferrer once played the diminutive artist Toulouse-Lautrec.

Complex Character and Themes

Hawke achieves big, world-weary laughs with Hart's humorous takes on the hidden gayness of the film Casablanca and the cheesily upbeat stage show he’s just been to see, with all the lariat-wielding cowhands; he bitingly labels it Okla-homo. The sexuality of Hart is multifaceted: this film skillfully juxtaposes his homosexuality with the heterosexual image invented for him in the 1948 stage show Words and Music (with actor Mickey Rooney acting as Hart); it intelligently infers a kind of bisexual tendency from the lyricist's writings to his young apprentice: youthful Yale attendee and budding theater artist Elizabeth Weiland, acted in this movie with carefree youthful femininity by actress Margaret Qualley.

As part of the legendary Broadway songwriting team with the composer Rodgers, Hart was in charge of unparalleled tunes like the classic The Lady Is a Tramp, the number Manhattan, the beloved My Funny Valentine and of course Blue Moon. But exasperated with Hart's drinking problem, inconsistency and melancholic episodes, Richard Rodgers ended their partnership and partnered with Oscar Hammerstein II to compose the musical Oklahoma! and then a multitude of stage and screen smashes.

Emotional Depth

The movie conceives the severely despondent Lorenz Hart in the musical Oklahoma!'s first-night New York audience in the year 1943, gazing with jealous anguish as the show proceeds, despising its insipid emotionality, hating the exclamation point at the conclusion of the name, but soul-crushingly cognizant of how lethally effective it is. He understands a hit when he views it – and feels himself descending into failure.

Before the intermission, Lorenz Hart unhappily departs and goes to the tavern at the establishment Sardi's where the balance of the picture unfolds, and expects the (unavoidably) successful Oklahoma! cast to appear for their after-party. He realizes it is his performance responsibility to congratulate Rodgers, to pretend all is well. With smooth moderation, Andrew Scott plays Richard Rodgers, obviously uncomfortable at what they both know is Hart’s humiliation; he provides a consolation to his self-esteem in the guise of a short-term gig composing fresh songs for their ongoing performance the show A Connecticut Yankee, which just exacerbates the situation.

• Actor Bobby Cannavale plays the bartender who in standard fashion hears compassionately to Hart’s arias of bitter despondency
• Patrick Kennedy acts as EB White, to whom Lorenz Hart inadvertently provides the idea for his youth literature the novel Stuart Little
• Margaret Qualley portrays Weiland, the inaccessibly lovely Ivy League pupil with whom the movie conceives Hart to be complicatedly and self-harmingly in affection

Lorenz Hart has previously been abandoned by Richard Rodgers. Certainly the universe couldn't be that harsh as to have him dumped by Weiland as well? But Margaret Qualley mercilessly depicts a young woman who desires Lorenz Hart to be the chuckling, non-sexual confidant to whom she can reveal her adventures with boys – as well of course the showbiz connection who can further her career.

Standout Roles

Hawke demonstrates that Hart somewhat derives spectator's delight in listening to these boys but he is also authentically, mournfully enamored with Elizabeth Weiland and the movie tells us about a factor seldom addressed in films about the world of musical theatre or the cinema: the dreadful intersection between occupational and affectionate loss. Yet at some level, Lorenz Hart is rebelliously conscious that what he has accomplished will endure. It’s a terrific performance from Ethan Hawke. This could be a theater production – but who shall compose the numbers?

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