TIFF 2025: Blue Moon Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Doubling his cinematic presence this year with Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater curiously delves into the existentialism and reflection of brilliantly ambitious artists with self-destructive behavior. Closely working together on the acclaimed Before trilogy and storytelling epic Boyhood, Linklater’s reunion with Ethan Hawke is an immediate kinetic combination, allowing an effortless understanding and depiction of a flawed artist in one of the last nights of his life. On the opening night of Oklahoma! in 1943, Lorenz Hart (Hawke) sneaks out before curtain call, heading to the Sardi’s after-party early. The acclaimed Broadway lyricist goes through the night, conversing with any nearing ear that would listen, including bartender Eddie (Cannavale), pianist Morty (Jonah Lees), and even author E.B. White (Patrick Kennedy).

Hawke embodies Hart, comfortably willing to execute Linklater’s depiction of the physically pitiful attributes without becoming a distracting factor, utilizing forced perspective to showcase Hart’s 4’10” height opposite writing partner Richard Rodgers (Scott) and protégé Elizabeth Weiland (Qualley). Hawke painfully expresses all of Hart’s tragic rhetoric that hits straight to the core, easily relatable to such seasoned artists with immense regret for their past actions and to the ambitious ones who regret never taking their shot. Bouncing between his thoughts on theater, music, and his romantic interest in Weiland, Hawke fills Hart with the charm, desperation, brilliance, and confidence of a flawed individual without teetering too far into the deep end. While undoubtedly a cry for help, his brilliant portrayal of Hart never dwells too far enough for his pleading rhetoric to become more than just routine Hart behavior that gets shrugged off by his friends and colleagues.

Oklahoma! is bittersweet for Hart, as his longtime writing partner Rodgers works without him, leading to a successful opening night with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein (Simon Delaney) by his side instead. Winning a Silver Bear for his performance in the film, Scott elegantly showcases a professional charm to Rodgers, subtly hinting at his conflicting relationship with Hart. Rodgers does not condone Hart’s destructive behavior that often interferes with their process, but he can’t help but feel bound to the great man that helped him reach this success. The film intensifies this endless cordial heart-to-heart, as audiences themselves become conflicted on whether this engaging conversation should continue for the sake of wallowing in this rich on-screen dynamic or stop for the sake of Hart’s emotional well-being.

Thanks to Robert Kaplow’s poignant script, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is an outstanding exercise of Lorenz Hart’s existential reflection, that Ethan Hawke carries confidently and shamelessly. Encompassing all of Hart’s charm, desperation, brilliance, and more, he splendidly balances all of these subtle emotions and personal traits into skillfully executed rhetorical monologues throughout this heartbreakingly engaging story. In the end, Hawke’s award-worthy performance will leave audiences smiling at a legendary master at work.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics/Mongrel Media

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Costa Christoulas

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