Richard Linklater is in the middle of a busy festival run right now. He’s got two different features, Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon, premiering at various fests, and, interestingly, they both explore bygone eras in the entertainment industry. The latter, which just screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, sets its sights specifically on Broadway history through the lens of one of the most renowned lyricists of the twentieth century.

Ethan Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, the writer behind such musicals as Pal Joey and A Connecticut Yankee, and who also penned the тιтular song. For his most well-known projects, he collaborated with Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), who, as we all know, went on to become one half of the far more famous duo Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Blue Moon opens with an unnecessary preview of Hart’s death, meant to spotlight his fall from grace. It then jumps back in time a few months prior to the opening night of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, which also looks like the last night of Hart’s partnership with Rodgers. The whole movie revolves around that celebratory evening, with Hart holding court at Sardi’s and clinging to his glory days.

Blue Moon Has A Rough Start With A Lot Of Monologuing

Written by Robert Kaplow, the first portion of Blue Moon is trying. Linklater frames Hawke in a way that makes him seem far shorter than he truly is to copy Hart’s smaller stature, and the effect is initially distracting. Hart rolls into Sardi’s and starts chatting with the bartender Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) and pianist Morty (Jonah Lees).

Much of his ramblings are about Oklahoma!‘s failings and the love he now has for a truly impressive beauty, Margaret Qualley’s Elizabeth. Hawke delivers these monologues with pᴀssion, relishing Hart’s dirty mind and gossipy nature. It sets up an interesting character study of a flawed man, one who thinks too highly of himself but also is very aware that his status is plummeting before his eyes.

The decision to frame Hart’s story around the opening of Oklahoma! is a smart one that lends a certain dramatic weight to the whole movie. As he says early on, the musical will become Rodgers’ most famous show, thus effectively overshadowing every single thing he’s ever done with Hart. It then puts Hawke’s character in a fascinating position.

Blue Moon could easily be a play with its fairly slim cast and single location, but Linklater struggles to make the early scenes engrossing. Eddie, Morty, and author E.B. White (Patrick Kennedy), who lingers in the background until he catches Hart’s attention, aren’t strong enough personalities to challenge Hart’s fanciful notions and huge ego, so too much time is spent allowing his worst traits to run free.

Lorenz Hart Has A Heart & Blue Moon Gets Better When It Actually Explores It

Things pick up significantly when the Oklahoma! party begins and Scott’s Rodgers enters the picture. Here’s someone who isn’t quite as enamored with Hart and, despite still holding affection for him, is willing to actually call him out. Each interaction between Hawke and Scott is loaded with history, genuine appreciation, and growing resentment; they’re easily the most compelling dynamic here.

Hart’s other key relationship is with Elizabeth, a college student with big creative aspirations and a mature soul. When he first speaks of her, it’s with all the exhausting stereotypes of an older man lusting after a younger woman, but later, we see his true feelings. Qualley enlivens what could be a paper-thin role, showing that she isn’t quite the simpering ingénue Hart thinks she is.

It was toward the end of Blue Moon that I began to appreciate Linklater’s approach. Hart’s built himself up so highly – to the point of being nearly insufferable – but the final scenes remind us of the wounded core inside of him. In his last interactions with Elizabeth and Rodgers, it’s so blisteringly clear that he’s just looking for love and friendship, and he doesn’t have it in the way he thought he did.

Hawke really shines here, moreso than he did with Hart’s previous bravado. The moment when he comes to terms with Elizabeth’s real feelings for him is heart-wrenching, and as the last of the partigoers leave Sardi’s, Linklater leaves Hart alone, framed in the window of the restaurant, an outsider to where he truly wants to be.

Considering how annoyed I was with the character early on, it’s truly impressive that, by the end, I felt bad for him. More broadly, the movie is a sweet ode to theater history, to the point of sneaking in a Broadway legend as a child, as if it’s a Marvel cameo. The recreated Sardi’s makes an elegantly warm backdrop for the drama, brought to detailed life by production designer Susie Cullen.

As a character study, Blue Moon is imperfect, but its smart framing of a pivotal moment in Hart’s life elevates it. I may not have been on board with every moment, but the ending has lingered in my brain since I first saw it, and for that reason alone, I think Linklater has pulled off something almost remarkable.

Blue Moon will be released in theaters by Sony Pictures Classics on October 17.