MIFF 2025: Melbourne International Film Festival Recap and Reviews

A Slow-Tempo Celebration of Lorenz Hart's Intelligence and Flawed Humanity

Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin, and Guillaume Marbeck in Nouvelle Vague (2025)

Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Sentimental Value (2025)

Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)

Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin in No Other Choice (2025)

Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal in Hamnet (2025)

Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley in Blue Moon (2025)

He wants to write musicals when he grows up.

He's very tired! It's been a long day. Come on, Stevie! It's a long ride back to Doylestown. You want to go to the bathroom?

I'm not tired, he asked me what I thought of his work! 'Weighty affairs will just have to wait?'

Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle at an event for Blue Moon (2025)

Ethan Hawke at an event for Blue Moon (2025)

Richard Linklater at an event for Blue Moon (2025)

Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater at an event for Blue Moon (2025)

Ethan Hawke

Bobby Cannavale

Andrew Scott

Robert Kaplow

Lorenz Hart

Elizabeth Weiland

Tells the story of Lorenz Hart&apos;s struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of &quot;Oklahoma!&quot;.

Richard Linklater

Blue Moon

A Slow-Tempo Celebration of Lorenz Hart&apos;s Intelligence and Flawed Humanity

Director Richard Linklater&apos;s &quot;Blue Moon,&quot; a dramedy about Lorenz Hart, derives its name from the most famous song Hart ever wrote with composer Richard Rodgers. Writer Robert Kaplan&apos;s script is filled with crackling dialogue, sophisticated accent notes, rich undertones and an observant narrative style that celebrates Hart&apos;s brilliance with words while also sympathizing with the tragedy of his personal life.

It&apos;s March 31, 1943. Hart (Ethan Hawke) has arrived early at Sardi&apos;s to fête former writing partner Richard Rogers on the opening night of his new show &quot;Oklahoma!&quot; It&apos;s a melancholy night for Hart, who is agonizingly aware that his own unreliability has forced Rogers to find a new collaborator. As audience members, we know that Rodgers and Hammerstein will go on to become Broadway&apos;s most celebrated creative team, while Rodgers and Hart will never be equally appreciated.

Using Linklater&apos;s typically meandering narrative style, the film offers a slow-tempo celebration of Hart&apos;s humor, insight and intelligence. But it also excavates and explores the pain beneath his sardonic observations and clever wordplay and it foreshadowing the self-destructiveness that will end his life seven months later. Hart skewers &quot;Oklahoma!&quot; for its cornpone sensibility and heart-on-its-sleeve emotion, while simultaneously recognizing that the show will be adored by audiences and run for years. He has a conversation with EB White (author of &quot;Charlotte&apos;s Web&quot;) and takes a couple of minutes to give White the inspiration to write &quot;Stuart Little.&quot; More importantly, Hart&apos;s conversation with the erudite White provides a forum for deep discussion about art while offering glimpses of Hart&apos;s insecurity and humanity. Finally, there&apos;s considerable time devoted to Hart&apos;s wildly implausible (but true) infatuation with Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley - Andie McDowell&apos;s daughter), a 20-year-old Yale student on whom Hart lavishes gifts, rapt attention and unalloyed adoration, despite his general affinity for men. It&apos;s a story simultaneously confusing, crisply written, insightful, mournful, funny and tragic. For anyone with a soul, it&apos;s a film that will inspire thought and reflection well after the closing credits roll.

Andrew Scott has received critical attention for his portrayal of Richard Rodgers, whom he portrays as a character who is disgusted by Hart&apos;s alcoholic benders while still appreciative of Hart&apos;s skills and instincts as a wordsmith. There&apos;s also an undertone of condescension as Rodgers realizes he is moving onward and upward, without Hart. But for my money, it&apos;s Hawke and Qualley who steal the show here. There&apos;s a lot of camera wizardry (kudos to Cinematographer Shane F. Kelly) for Hawke&apos;s portrayal of Hart, who was balding, 4&apos;10&quot; and old well beyond his 47 years. Even so, Hawke disappears convincingly into the role. For Qualley, playing a gorgeous, self-absorbed twenty-something requires zero dramatic range. But she&apos;s so open, honest and thoughtful that she infuses believability into her role as the idealized love interest of a man more than twice her age.

The plot of &quot;Blue Moon&quot; is best summarized by its opening lyrics: &quot;Blue moon, you saw me standin&apos; alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own.&quot; The film is a heartbreaking tribute to Lorenz Hart. It&apos;s also a cautionary note about the fragility of art and some of the artists who spend their lives creating it.

Official Trailer

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTQxMzE1MGItMzFlMS00NzUyLWI5MjEtZWUyMGI5NGUxNmFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQWRpZWdtb25n._V1_.jpg

Director Richard Linklater's "Blue Moon," a dramedy about Lorenz Hart, derives its name from the most famous song Hart ever wrote with composer Richard Rodgers. Writer Robert Kaplan's script is filled with crackling dialogue, sophisticated accent notes, rich undertones and an observant narrative style that celebrates Hart's brilliance with words while also sympathizing with the tragedy of his personal life.

It's March 31, 1943. Hart (Ethan Hawke) has arrived early at Sardi's to fête former writing partner Richard Rogers on the opening night of his new show "Oklahoma!" It's a melancholy night for Hart, who is agonizingly aware that his own unreliability has forced Rogers to find a new collaborator. As audience members, we know that Rodgers and Hammerstein will go on to become Broadway's most celebrated creative team, while Rodgers and Hart will never be equally appreciated.

Using Linklater's typically meandering narrative style, the film offers a slow-tempo celebration of Hart's humor, insight and intelligence. But it also excavates and explores the pain beneath his sardonic observations and clever wordplay and it foreshadowing the self-destructiveness that will end his life seven months later. Hart skewers "Oklahoma!" for its cornpone sensibility and heart-on-its-sleeve emotion, while simultaneously recognizing that the show will be adored by audiences and run for years. He has a conversation with EB White (author of "Charlotte's Web") and takes a couple of minutes to give White the inspiration to write "Stuart Little." More importantly, Hart's conversation with the erudite White provides a forum for deep discussion about art while offering glimpses of Hart's insecurity and humanity. Finally, there's considerable time devoted to Hart's wildly implausible (but true) infatuation with Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley - Andie McDowell's daughter), a 20-year-old Yale student on whom Hart lavishes gifts, rapt attention and unalloyed adoration, despite his general affinity for men. It's a story simultaneously confusing, crisply written, insightful, mournful, funny and tragic. For anyone with a soul, it's a film that will inspire thought and reflection well after the closing credits roll.

Andrew Scott has received critical attention for his portrayal of Richard Rodgers, whom he portrays as a character who is disgusted by Hart's alcoholic benders while still appreciative of Hart's skills and instincts as a wordsmith. There's also an undertone of condescension as Rodgers realizes he is moving onward and upward, without Hart. But for my money, it's Hawke and Qualley who steal the show here. There's a lot of camera wizardry (kudos to Cinematographer Shane F. Kelly) for Hawke's portrayal of Hart, who was balding, 4'10" and old well beyond his 47 years. Even so, Hawke disappears convincingly into the role. For Qualley, playing a gorgeous, self-absorbed twenty-something requires zero dramatic range. But she's so open, honest and thoughtful that she infuses believability into her role as the idealized love interest of a man more than twice her age.

The plot of "Blue Moon" is best summarized by its opening lyrics: "Blue moon, you saw me standin' alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own." The film is a heartbreaking tribute to Lorenz Hart. It's also a cautionary note about the fragility of art and some of the artists who spend their lives creating it.

Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of "Oklahoma!".

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