Blue Moon

Ethan Hawke ist in BLUE MOON kaum wiederzuerkennen: Sehr klein, glattrasiert, mit schütterem Haar verbringt er als schwuler Musical- und Songschreiber Lorenz Hart am 31. März 1943 einen schmerzvollen Abend in einer New Yorker Hotelbar. Denn: Richard Rodgers, mit dem er zuvor große Evergreens schrieb, feiert einen Solo-Triumph. Mit einem beeindruckenden Hawke im Rampenlicht verbinden sich in Linklaters Film schwelgerisches Kammerspiel und Studie einer kontrastreichen Künstlerpersönlichkeit. Die mag zwar mit wortwitzigen Anekdoten und klugen Gedanken amüsieren, vor allem aber steckt in ihr ein Seufzer voller Sehnsucht – nach Liebe, Sex, gemeinsamem Erfolg. (Sascha Rettig)

With BLUE MOON, Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke reunite more than a decade after BOYHOOD (2014), marking the Texas-born artists’ ninth collaboration. BLUE MOON is another all-American affair, set in the iconic Manhattan bar Sardi’s circa 1943, on the opening night of Oklahoma!, the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. Lorenz Hart (Hawke), the famed lyricist behind such classic songs as “My Funny Valentine” and former artistic partner of Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), is drinking himself into a stupor as he reckons with his career’s downfall. Sporting a combover and perpetually hunched, Hawke delivers a spellbinding (and impressively voluble) performance, balancing his character’s wit and charisma with a profound sense of regret and sadness. A rainy opening scene details the alcoholic’s tragically young passing at age 48, casting a melancholic shadow over the proceeding events in which Hart (who was also gay and Jewish) bares his heart to the few people around him, including the beautiful daughter of a Broadway impresario (Margaret Qualley). To this end, BLUE MOON feels less a biopic than a soulful eulogy, handed delicately by Linklater with a ruminative touch. (Beatrice Loayza)

Richard Linklater (Auswahl): SLACKER (1990), DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993), BEFORE SUNRISE (1995), WAKING LIFE (2001), BEFORE SUNSET (2005), A SCANNER DARKLY (2006), ME AND ORSON WELLES (2008), BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013), BOYHOOD (2014), LAST FLAG FLYING (2017), WHERE D’YOU GO, BERNADETTE (2019), HIT MAN (2023), NOUVELLE VAGUE (2025)