Review: Blue Moon

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Official synopsis: Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's (Ethan Hawke) struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of his former working partner Richard Rogers' (Adam Scott) "Oklahoma!"

All, I wanted to write this off as pretentious so badly. Just the first few sentences had it brewing under my skin. That and it "took" my beloved Sorry, Baby's Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars. I was ready to hate this film, it wasn't deserved, but I was ready.

Damn it, I loved this. 

I was SO hooked by Hawke's performance. It really is HIS film. Everyone else, no matter how nice they are to see. Bobby Canavale as a bartender, Margaret Qualley has Lorenz's college student love interest, even Scott's small part as Richard Rogers are nice, but nothing quite stands up to the power house performance Hawke is laying down. They all compliment it, but it's a one man show.

Lorenz Hart would have it no other way. Hawke captures him perfectly. His genius, his demons, his ego, and his love for music. All of it is there. You feel sorry for him, and also feel sorry for those around him at times. It's very complex. This is very much a writers film. If you have an appreciation for the written word, you'll fall in love with the screen play. It's just written very well.

It moves very much like a play, not too surprising considering the source material, and because it's so contained to this particular point in time, it doesn't have room to be much more than that, but it works so well. 

Blue Moon is available to stream on Netflix

Grade: B+

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