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Breaking up from the more prominent collaborator in a entertainment duo is a risky affair. Larry David experienced it. The same for Andrew Ridgeley. Currently, this clever and deeply sorrowful intimate film from writer Robert Kaplow and helmer the director Richard Linklater recounts the all but unbearable account of songwriter for Broadway Lorenz Hart right after his split from composer Richard Rodgers. The character is acted with theatrical excellence, an notable toupee and fake smallness by Ethan Hawke, who is often digitally shrunk in height – but is also occasionally filmed placed in an off-camera hole to stare up wistfully at taller characters, addressing the lyricist's stature problem as actor José Ferrer previously portrayed the small-statured Toulouse-Lautrec.

Multifaceted Role and Themes

Hawke earns large, cynical chuckles with Hart's humorous takes on the subtle queer themes of the classic Casablanca and the excessively cheerful musical he just watched, with all the lariat-wielding cowhands; he acidly calls it Okla-homo. The sexual identity of Hart is multifaceted: this film skillfully juxtaposes his queer identity with the straight persona invented for him in the 1948 theater piece Words and Music (with Mickey Rooney acting as Hart); it intelligently infers a kind of bisexual tendency from Hart's correspondence to his protege: young Yale student and budding theater artist the character Elizabeth Weiland, portrayed in this film with carefree youthful femininity by the performer Margaret Qualley.

As a component of the renowned musical theater songwriting team with musician Richard Rodgers, Hart was in charge of unparalleled tunes like the classic The Lady Is a Tramp, the tune Manhattan, My Funny Valentine and of course the song Blue Moon. But annoyed at Hart’s alcoholism, unreliability and melancholic episodes, Rodgers broke with him and partnered with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II to compose Oklahoma! and then a multitude of stage and screen smashes.

Psychological Complexity

The picture envisions the deeply depressed Lorenz Hart in the show Oklahoma!'s first-night Manhattan spectators in 1943, observing with covetous misery as the production unfolds, loathing its insipid emotionality, hating the punctuation mark at the conclusion of the name, but heartsinkingly aware of how extremely potent it is. He understands a hit when he watches it – and feels himself descending into failure.

Even before the break, Lorenz Hart sadly slips away and goes to the pub at the venue Sardi's where the rest of the film occurs, and anticipates the (inevitably) triumphant Oklahoma! company to arrive for their after-party. He is aware it is his showbiz duty to congratulate Rodgers, to feign everything is all right. With smooth moderation, actor Andrew Scott portrays Rodgers, clearly embarrassed at what each understands is Hart's embarrassment; he provides a consolation to his pride in the form of a short-term gig writing new numbers for their current production the musical A Connecticut Yankee, which just exacerbates the situation.

• Bobby Cannavale plays the bartender who in traditional style hears compassionately to Hart’s arias of bitter despondency
• Actor Patrick Kennedy acts as EB White, to whom Hart unintentionally offers the notion for his kids' story the novel Stuart Little
• Margaret Qualley portrays the character Weiland, the unattainably beautiful Yale student with whom the film imagines Hart to be complexly and self-destructively in affection

Hart has already been jilted by Rodgers. Certainly the universe couldn't be that harsh as to have him dumped by Elizabeth Weiland as well? But Qualley ruthlessly portrays a girl who wants Lorenz Hart to be the laughing, platonic friend to whom she can disclose her experiences with young men – as well of course the Broadway power broker who can advance her profession.

Standout Roles

Hawke shows that Hart partly takes spectator's delight in hearing about these boys but he is also truly, sadly infatuated with Elizabeth Weiland and the film tells us about a factor seldom addressed in films about the realm of stage musicals or the cinema: the dreadful intersection between career and love defeat. Yet at a certain point, Hart is defiantly aware that what he has accomplished will survive. It’s a terrific performance from Hawke. This may turn into a theater production – but who will write the tunes?

Blue Moon premiered at the London cinema festival; it is available on 17 October in the US, November 14 in the Britain and on January 29 in Australia.