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Separating from the better-known partner in a showbiz double act is a risky business. Larry David did it. The same for Andrew Ridgeley. Now, this witty and heartbreakingly sad chamber piece from scriptwriter the writer Robert Kaplow and director the director Richard Linklater narrates the almost agonizing account of musical theater lyricist Lorenz Hart right after his breakup from composer Richard Rodgers. He is played with theatrical excellence, an unspeakable combover and fake smallness by Ethan Hawke, who is often technologically minimized in size – but is also sometimes shot placed in an hidden depression to look up poignantly at more statuesque figures, facing Hart's height issue as José Ferrer previously portrayed the small-statured artist Toulouse-Lautrec.

Layered Persona and Elements

Hawke earns large, cynical chuckles with Hart’s riffs on the subtle queer themes of the movie Casablanca and the cheesily upbeat musical he just watched, with all the lariat-wielding cowhands; he acidly calls it Okla-queer. The sexuality of Lorenz Hart is complex: this film effectively triangulates his homosexuality with the non-queer character created for him in the 1948 theater piece the musical Words and Music (with Mickey Rooney playing Lorenz Hart); it cleverly extrapolates a kind of dual attraction from Hart's correspondence to his young apprentice: college student at Yale and aspiring set designer Weiland, portrayed in this film with heedless girlishness by the performer Margaret Qualley.

Being a member of the legendary New York theater composing duo with the composer Rodgers, Lorenz Hart was in charge of matchless numbers like The Lady Is a Tramp, the number Manhattan, the beloved My Funny Valentine and of course the song Blue Moon. But exasperated with Hart's drinking problem, inconsistency and gloomy fits, Rodgers ended their partnership and teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein II to write the show Oklahoma! and then a raft of theater and film hits.

Emotional Depth

The picture envisions the severely despondent Lorenz Hart in Oklahoma!’s premiere NYC crowd in 1943, gazing with covetous misery as the performance continues, despising its bland sentimentality, detesting the exclamation point at the conclusion of the name, but dishearteningly conscious of how lethally effective it is. He knows a hit when he views it – and perceives himself sinking into unsuccessfulness.

Before the break, Lorenz Hart miserably ducks out and goes to the pub at Sardi’s where the remainder of the movie occurs, and expects the (inevitably) triumphant Oklahoma! company to appear for their after-party. He knows it is his showbiz duty to praise Richard Rodgers, to feign things are fine. With suave restraint, Andrew Scott portrays Richard Rodgers, evidently ashamed at what each understands is the lyricist's shame; he offers a sop to his self-esteem in the guise of a brief assignment creating additional tunes for their existing show the musical A Connecticut Yankee, which simply intensifies the pain.

• The performer Bobby Cannavale plays the barman who in conventional manner listens sympathetically to Hart’s arias of vinegary despair
• Patrick Kennedy plays writer EB White, to whom Lorenz Hart unintentionally offers the idea for his kids' story the novel Stuart Little
• Qualley plays Weiland, the impossibly gorgeous Ivy League pupil with whom the movie envisions Hart to be complexly and self-destructively in love

Hart has previously been abandoned by Richard Rodgers. Surely the universe wouldn't be that brutal as to have him dumped by Elizabeth Weiland as well? But Qualley ruthlessly portrays a youthful female who wants Lorenz Hart to be the chuckling, non-sexual confidant to whom she can disclose her exploits with guys – as well of course the theater industry influencer who can promote her occupation.

Performance Highlights

Hawke reveals that Hart to a degree enjoys voyeuristic pleasure in hearing about these boys but he is also truly, sadly infatuated with Elizabeth Weiland and the film informs us of a factor rarely touched on in films about the world of musical theatre or the cinema: the terrible overlap between career and love defeat. Yet at some level, Lorenz Hart is defiantly aware that what he has achieved will persist. It's a magnificent acting job from Hawke. This could be a theater production – but who will write the tunes?

The movie Blue Moon was shown at the London film festival; it is available on the 17th of October in the USA, November 14 in the Britain and on 29 January in the Australian continent.