Shot nearly entirely in one location, and very close to real time, Linklater’s sublime chill pill of a Berlinale entry centers on the legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart, who suffers a severe morale dip, played by Ethan Hawke in an Oscar-worthy performance.

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In a year that seemed to have passed him by, Richard Linklater’s quick brace with Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague should have propelled him into the 2026 Oscar race à la Steven Soderbergh in 2001 (with Erin Brockovich and Traffic), but the competition he’s facing this time is incredibly diverse and strong. 

It’s a pity, because with these two pictures, Linklater shows why he remains a force of reckoning, particularly his chameleon-like ability to get into the heart and soul of whichever topic or persona he so chooses. 

Similar to Nouvelle Vague’s nostalgic dive into Godard’s production of the iconic Breathless (1960), Blue Moon goes even further in time to 1943, specifically the evening of 31 March, after the first and exceedingly successful staging of Oklahoma!, famously written by the duo, Rogers and Hammerstein. 

As the critical heavens shower praise after praise, Linklater’s focus, however, is on a lonely middle-aged man at a bar.  He’s Lorenz Hart, played by Ethan Hawke in an Oscar-worthy performance (well, praying he gets a nod at least). 

Hawke slips into the role so effortlessly, short and balding but full of relentless, monologue-y energy that masks the fact that Blue Moon was nearly entirely shot in one location, and very close to real time. 

“Nobody loved me that much.”

Hart, himself a legendary lyricist, cuts a sad figure, having realised that the final nail of his creative partnership with Rogers (Andrew Scott) might have been hammered (pardon the pun) in this very night. 

So, he laments to anyone (including author E.B. White, with a nifty future ‘Stuart Little’ reference) who might listen, while boasting of his infatuation with an artistically talented 20-year-old college girl (Margaret Qualley). 

I confess I know nothing about Hart, or the history of American musical theatre, but Blue Moon is such a sublime chill pill that by the end of it, you feel like you just had the most wonderful night out eavesdropping at that bar with a glass of wine in hand, and learning a thing or two. 

But like the best of Linklater’s ‘Before’ trilogy or Boyhood (2014), Blue Moon, although tinged with a pronounced dose of melancholy, shows us that living is not just about celebrating achievements and suffering severe morale dips, but dreaming and anticipating that a silver lining might still come after a gold rush.

Grade: A-

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