Blue Moon

*"Be careful of love stories, think about friendship stories. That's where the really enduring stuff lives..." * I'm not a big musical guru, so some of the deeper rooted references flew under the radar for me, but Richard Linklater's latest (er, one of two latest) project(s) is a moody yet sentimental tale on the life of one Lorenz Hart, who may very well be the biggest hater of his former collaborator Richard Rogers' hit musical Oklahoma! - and not just on a hip-hop beef-like level of hate, but generational hate. Ethan Hawke turns in a bittersweet, award-savvy performance that carries the film's runtime - a lot of yippity yapping from a tortured individual grappling with his confidence, alcohol addiction, sexuality and morality... all while feeling a disconnect with his former colleague. It's still a miracle to see Hawke play a character shorter than Lord Farquaad. There's also some great supporting work here, including Andrew Scott as Dick Rodgers, Bobby Cannavale as the bartender who is witness to Hart's lengthy bar monologues and Margaret Qualley as an aspiring muse that becomes the apple of Hart's eye... even though that feeling may not be overly reciprocal. However, my personal supporting MVP pick would have to be Patrick Kennedy's portrayal of legendary author E.B. White, seemingly for his chemistry with Hart as well as deeper understanding of personal woes that other bar patrons don't entirely grasp. The name was scratching my brain as I knew of it from somewhere, but when the name Stuart Little came up I had a visceral "that's where I know that name from!" reaction. Linklater is two-for-two for me (between this and Hit Man), and I'm curious to see his next work... one that hopefully doesn't take as long as a project like Boyhood did.