GOOD THINGS (SOMETIMES) COME IN SMALL PACKAGES

          

It is the small movies that often give the reviewer the most trouble. There is concern that… just perhaps… no one else will “get” this movie the way the self-anointed film expert might, that by virtue of being part of this elite calling, and having chosen to place one’s commentary on paper and the internet, that somehow the critic is filled with insights and sensibilities that mere mortals in the theatre audience do not possess.

The less than academic commentator might also fear that a plethora of research will have to be done in order to “explain” to the reader just why this tiny movie works and for what reasons it might be important that attention must be paid… especially to something so small.

The tiny movie to which this column refers features one of America’s great wits, a man who, along with his collaborator of a quarter century, formed a partnership that became… arguably the most prolific songwriting team of all time. It is said as a compliment, but in fact is something akin to understatement, that this very same All-American partnership is the US equivalent of the internationally renowned team of Gilbert and Sullivan.

One could easily speculate that the bulk of Frank Sinatra’s fame and fortune would be garnered singing songs written by this pair… songs such as I Didn’t Know What Time it Was, Isn’t it Romantic, My Funny Valentine, The Lady is a Tramp, Dancing on the Ceiling, Glad to Be Unhappy, Where or When, It Never Entered My Mind, Little Girl Blue, Manhattan, My Romance. And that is just Sinatra. There was, of course, also Ella and Tony Bennett. There is the very real danger of filling this entire film review with nothing but song titles.

And then there is the fear of the whole thing being just a little inside baseball as the set up for the movie that is one particular night… one awful night… in the life of Lorenz Hart. For it is on this night that Mr. Hart’s erstwhile partner, Richard Rodgers, with whom he wrote more than 500 songs and 28 stage musicals, is having the world premiere of his latest musical… his first with a new partner… a circumstance made necessary, according to Mr. Rodgers, because of Mr. Hart’s alcoholism.

Mr. Rodgers’ new partner is Oscar Hammerstein II and the premiere, just down the street from the bar at Sardi’s where this little movie takes place, is, of course, Oklahoma! Note the exclamation point.

There is no equivalency of setting or circumstance that any self-professed theatre buff could possibly come up with that would resonate with more raw emotion, more mixed feelings.

The title of the movie is Blue Moon… also a song by Rodgers & Hart… and it stars Andrew Scott (who played the Hot Priest in the sensational Fleabag, Tom Ripley in the recent limited series, Ripley, and he also played every single cast member of the most recent edition of Uncle Vanya both on stage and film); Scott’s co-star is Ethan Hawke (Dead Poets Society) who essays the literary half of the famous duo. Margaret Qualley makes (what was for me, at least) an impressive debut as the object of Hart’s affection, while the always solid Bobby Cannavale reluctantly keeps Mr. Hart’s glass filled at the Sardi’s bar.

I took the liberty of removing Mr. Hawke’s top billing as it fit my sentence structure better since he played Lorenz Hart, who was in life billed in second position to Richard Rodgers. Still, make no mistake about it, this is Mr. Hawke’s movie. If no one else gets an Academy Award nomination for this film, I can assure you that Ethan Hawke will get his. Richard Linklater, who also helmed the impressive Hit Man, and who directed Blue Moon, could be busy at Oscar time as well. This was the first screenplay for Robert Kaplow, who authored the novel Me and Orson Welles, and I feel comfortable in saying he is another who will not go gently into that Oscar evening.

Hollywood made its bones on pretty people saying pretty things in pretty places. Blue Moon isn’t that… rather it is very bright people revealing very poignant and intellectually stimulating things in a most provocative environment. Consider yourselves lucky to be able to join the party at a theatre near you or on Amazon, Apple TV, or Fandango at home.

 

Barney Rosenzweig