With his best friend Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) wrote classic American musicals and songs that have become canon like “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon.” But by 1943, “Larry” is an alcoholic wreck, and Rodgers has just scored his greatest triumph with new partner Oscar Hammerstein II as Oklahoma! debuts on Broadway. Larry is the odd man out at the opening night party at Sardi’s, but that doesn’t stop him from holding forth to anyone who will listen, hiding his disappointment in Rodgers’ defection behind nonstop chatter. This ninth collaboration between Hawke and director Richard Linklater (Before Sunrise, Boyhood) is a finely honed portrait of an artist in emotional freefall. Nearly unrecognizable, playing the balding songwriter who was almost a foot shorter, Hawke convinces as a garrulous genius and drunk both fighting against and surrendering to his own worst impulses. It is an astonishing performance. —Pam Grady
Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater burst into the public’s consciousness in 1990 with Slacker. To date, he has made close to 30 features, including nine collaborations with Ethan Hawke. In addition to Blue Moon (2025), those films include Before Sunrise (1995), for which Linklater won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for his direction, and its two sequels, Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight(2013), both of which received Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar® nominations. Their other films are The Newton Boys (1998); Waking Life (2001); Tape (2001); Fast Food Nation (2006); and Boyhood (2014), shot over 12 years; and the recipient of 178 awards and 220 nominations, including six Oscar nods.
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