{"id":7026,"date":"2025-11-28T17:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/blue-moon-reviewed-richard-linklaters-bittersweet-broadway-biopic-152342\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T17:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T17:53:10","slug":"blue-moon-reviewed-richard-linklaters-bittersweet-broadway-biopic-152342","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/blue-moon-reviewed-richard-linklaters-bittersweet-broadway-biopic-152342\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Moon reviewed: Richard Linklater\u2019s bittersweet Broadway biopic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At this point the musical biopic is an unstoppable juggernaut of a genre. Picture a heedless commercial Cybertruck speeding on regardless of artistic success or audience appetite. In 2025 we had Bob and the Boss. In 2026 we\u2019re promised some strange new version of the Michael Jackson and Bee Gees stories. And beyond that there\u2019s the gathering storm of Sam Mendes\u2019 Beatles cinematic event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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An unstoppable juggernaut<\/h2>\n

At this point the musical biopic is an unstoppable juggernaut of a genre. Picture a heedless commercial Cybertruck speeding on regardless of artistic success or audience appetite. In 2025 we had Bob and the Boss. In 2026 we\u2019re promised some strange new version of the Michael Jackson and Bee Gees stories. And beyond that there\u2019s the gathering storm of Sam Mendes\u2019 Beatles cinematic event.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019d be willing to bet that none come close to the wit, insight and bittersweet glory of Richard Linklater\u2019s Blue Moon. It\u2019s the story of the last days of a po\u00e8te maudit of the Broadway musical. His name was Lorenz Hart (lyricist of \u201cMy Funny Valentine\u201d among many others).<\/p>\n

Rhe grim writing on the wall<\/h2>\n

On the face of it, it\u2019s a modest affair, more a one-man stage show than a feature film. It\u2019s 1943, New York, the opening night of Oklahoma! and Hart has slipped out of a show he finds irredeemably cornball to hold court with his favourite bartender while the triumphant reception is being prepared at Sardi\u2019s. After two decades coining couplets for Richard Rodgers\u2019 levitating melodies, Hart\u2019s neuroses and bad behaviour have finally seen him usurped as lyricist by the more reliable Oscar Hammerstein. He can see the grim writing on the wall.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s nevertheless irrepressible, full of fierce, fresh ardour for an unlikely flame. Gawky, 20-year-old Yale co-ed Elizabeth Weiland, played by Margaret Qualley. The film becomes an aria of infatuation as he buttonholes every passing stranger, trying new ways to describe his passion. He\u2019s like a more flamboyant Kevin Rowland at the start of \u201cThis Is What She\u2019s Like\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unlikely casting and a stagey conceit<\/h2>\n

Hart is manifested in the unlikely form of Ethan Hawke, filmically foreshortened to five feet. He struggles to climb onto his bar stool and is crowned with a bathetic combover instead of a laurel wreath.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely casting and a stagey conceit. But somehow, like the most endearingly implausible Lorenz Hart couplet, it pays off spectacularly. For all Hawke\u2019s storied history with Richard Linklater, this might be their finest collaboration yet. A profound, bittersweet rhapsody to the power of words and music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Blue Moon reviewed: Richard Linklater\u2019s bittersweet Broadway biopic<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At this point the musical biopic is an unstoppable juggernaut of a genre. Picture a heedless commercial Cybertruck speeding on regardless of artistic success or audience appetite. In 2025 we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,88,4608],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-reviews","category-richard-linklater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}