Blue Moon: Exuberent sorrow

Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon is a study in contradiction. From the title card that opens the films with two contrasting comments about Lorenz Hart, it pushes and pulls viewers various directions at the same time. But it is only through that frenzy that we can appreciate the chaos that makes up this conflicted person.

Hart was known as one of the greatest lyricists of 20th Century American music. For over twenty years, he and Richard Rodgers created a string of musical successes. Among the Rodgers and Hart songs that have become engrained in our culture are “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Manhattan,” “Bewitched,” “Isn’t It Romantic?” and “Blue Moon.” All that is background to the story in the film.

ETHAN HAWKE as Lorenz Hart, ANDREW SCOTT as Richard Rodgers in ‘Blue Moon’ Image: Sabrina Lantos. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

The film begins on March 31, 1943, the opening night for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! This is Rodgers’ first work with a different lyricist. And for Larry Hart (Ethan Hawke), it is a success he is not a part of. He leaves the theater during the curtain calls and heads down to the bar at Sardi’s restaurant where everyone will be gathering. Here, before everyone else comes, he holds forth with Eddie the bartender (Bobby Cannavale), a young soldier who is playing piano (Jonas Lees) and a man sitting quietly in the corner enjoying his drink, who turns out to be E.B. White (Patrick Kennedy). The bulk of the film takes place here in the bar (and some adjacent areas).

Larry, as portrayed in the film, is a loquacious extrovert who fills the room with his presence. We see quickly that he is an alcoholic struggling with sobriety. We learn he is gay and that he is short. Despite his stature, for this time before others arrive, he is the largest presence in the room. Never mind his size; his ego makes up for it. He knows that Oklahama! will be a great success, yet he belittles it whenever he can. (Chief complaint is the exclamation point.) We soon realize that the only way he can boost his ego is by trying to have the sour grapes he feels taste like sweet lemons.

We also discover that Larry is infatuated with a young Yale co-ed, Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley). Part of the inspiration of the film is letters between Hart and Elizabeth. The film is not so much plot as it is listening to Larry speaking to anyone who will listen. There are also more private conversations with Rodgers (Andrew Scott), White and, in time, Elizabeth. Through it all, Larry is the focus of everything. Even when he listens enthralled to Elizabeth’s story of her fling with a Yale frat boy, we see this is his way of connecting to a young woman.

Larry is full of contradictions. His insecurities over size and sexuality are covered up by his exuberant personality. For him, this night and the obvious success of Oklahoma! are a bit like being invited to an exe’s wedding to a new partner. He’s expected to look happy for Rodgers and the others, but we know that inside he is in pain. Perhaps the greatest contradiction is the great pathos that underlies his outward demeanor.

ETHAN HAWKE as Lorenz Hart, MARGARET QUALLEY as Elizabeth Weiland in ‘Blue Moon’ Image: Sabrina Lantos. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Viewers may feel some contradictory feelings as well. We really want to like Larry. He’s fun to be around—to a point. He is also exhausting. Hawke has a challenging task to bring Lorenzo Hart to life. He is talking almost continuously through the film. We’ve all had times of being trapped in a conversation with such a person. There are times we wish we could just find a chance to escape, but then we might miss some wonderful witty statement.

We know from the film’s brief prologue that this is a tragedy and that in a few months, a drunken Larry Hart will be found in the street unconscious and soon will be dead at the age of 48. This knowledge colors our understanding of how deeply Hart is struggling at this point in his life. He is coming to understand that he has wasted the great success he had. To end up literally in the gutter seems to fit with how Larry is seeing his life unravel.

What makes it tragic isn’t just that he dies so young, but that he was still a talented artist. The real tragedy is that he cannot find appropriate ways to bring out that talent.