Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke sing about heartbreak in the magnificent 'Blue Moon'

Special correspondent for the Berlin Film Festival"You know the expression for better or worseWell, I'm entering the phase for bad of my life," says the protagonist of Blue moon, presented this Tuesday at the Berlinale. The phrase could serve as a summary of the vital moment of Lorenz Hart that he tries to capture Richard Linklater in this film about one of the greatest lyricists of American popular music of the 20th century, who formed a successful tandem with composer Richard Rodgers: My funny valentine or the same Blue moon are two of hundreds of songs they created until Hart's alcoholism pushed Rodgers to seek out a more reliable lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein. The night in 1943 in which the film is set Blue moon It is precisely the premiere of the musical Oklahoma!, Rodgers' first collaboration with Hammerstein, a stratospheric success that, in some way, closed the door to resuming the Rodgers & Hart tandem.

In Blue moon, the director of Boyhood He makes one of his warmest and most welcoming films, a bittersweet portrait of a genius in decline that captures the contradictory, beautiful and tragic soul of the character. He plays it wonderfully. Ethan Hawke, supported by a group of excellent performers: Margaret Qualley (nominated for an Oscar for The substance), Andrew Scott, Bobby Cannavale... Together they make the pages and pages of dialogue in the fantastic script by Robert Kaplow –the author of the novel Me and Orson Welles which Linklater adapted in 2008– acquire an irresistible musicality, linking together the anecdotes, hopes and little mischief that Hart unleashes relentlessly during the 100 minutes of a film that takes place almost in a single space and in real time, an exercise in style consistent with the theatrical world it portrays and which does not detract one iota of emotion from the film.

The Berlinale audience has received Blue moon The film was released to much laughter and one of the biggest standing ovations of this year's edition. "I've always loved period musical theatre and we've tried to make the film like a Rodgers & Hart song: beautiful, sad and funny at the same time," Linklater summed up his intentions at a press conference. "It's basically a one-scene film," Hawke added. "Preparing for something like this is like preparing for a movie." Macbeth. We had scenes that were 10 or 11 pages long." The actor, by the way, had to be digitally retouched in some scenes to simulate Hart's short stature. "He was a very short man, yes, but he was also big," says Hawke. "He was a lover and a loner. He was deeply insecure and he had great self-confidence. These are contradictions that I love, they make him more real and create an interesting dynamic."

Humanity and empathy

Seeing Blue moonIn fact, it is hard to remember a director who loves his characters like Linklater, who never revels in the suffering or bitterness of situations: he gives dignity to the partner who is wounded in pride, and empathy to the successful friend or to the woman who is the object of an unrequited love. In this song of heartbreak there are no good guys or bad guys, but a lot of humanity and lucid, sparkling reflections on beauty, art, desire and the need to love. "It's strange to see a film about broken hearts in which everyone tries so hard to be nice," says Hawke. "Richard shows human beings in all their fragility, but with respect and honour. There are many films that show people hurting each other, but here they try to get along and yet they hurt each other. Just like in life itself."

Does the film have a chance of appearing on the noble side of the list of winners? It seems difficult without a more explicit political background, always a decisive factor at the Berlin Film Festival, although the way Hart's omnivorous sexuality is presented without any hesitation will surely please the president of the jury, Todd Haynes. In any case, cinema owes Linklater an important award, especially the Berlinale, which in 2014 passed up the opportunity to award him a Golden Bear for his performance. Boyhood. In Berlin, by the way, Linklater and Hawke already presented together Before dawn (1995) and Before sunset (2004), the first and third installment of a series that, for the moment, is resisting the idea of a fourth installment. But with Blue moon There are now nine collaborations between actor and director. And, as if evoking that fruitful artistic relationship, Hawke has confessed that his favorite line from the film – where favorite lines from other films are constantly being discussed – is when Hart tells a young George Roy Hill: "Be careful with love and pay more attention to friendship. It lasts longer."