Ethan Hawke He is not only one of the biggest stars of this year's Berlinale, but also one of the festival's most beloved actors, having presented all three installments of the Linklater's Trilogy, Boyhood and, just a year ago, Blue moonfor which he is nominated for an Oscar. But even he was caught up in the controversy this Tuesday during the presentation of his new work, the magnificent adventure film. The weight, because of the controversy surrounding this edition: the absence of a condemnation from the Berlinale regarding the genocide in Palestine and the power struggle between the press and the festival management regarding the questions that demand an explicit stance from creators on hot political issues

In The Killers of the MoonMartin Scorsese started from the codes of western to revisit the American founding narrative and highlight, through a real event, the extent to which the country's oil wealth was built on the plunder and massacre of the Indigenous population. The film takes place on Osage lands in Oklahoma, a state also known for another landmark of racist violence, the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. It is precisely in Tulsa that the film is set. True hidden, the new series created by Sterling Harjo after Reservation dogsThe series, set on an Indian reservation in the area, centers on Lee (Ethan Hawke), a white owner of a Tulsa used bookstore who also works as a journalist and amateur sleuth. In one of his articles for a local publication, he exposes the shady dealings of the Washbergs, one of Oklahoma's most powerful families, headed by Donald (Kyle MacLachlan), who aspires to become governor. But Donald's brother, Dale (Tim Blake Nelson, one of the series' best performances), is found dead in his home in what appears to be a suicide. Lee suspects that the death wasn't self-inflicted and begins investigating the case, starting with a letter he finds among the first editions of Jim Thompson novels that Dale treasured in his library. The clue gradually leads him to a long history of white supremacy and land grabbing.

I don't know if Blue moon It's the best film of the year, but I would venture to say it's the most heartwarming. This is no small feat, given that it begins by announcing the death of its protagonist, Lorenz Hart, the lyricist who forged a memorable collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers, to whom we owe milestones of musical theater such as My funny Valentine or the song that gives the film its title. But Hart, who in the film has the features of a shrunken Ethan Hawke with a prosthetic bald head, possesses enough charisma to make us forget the mournful anticipation and gladly accompany him to the bar where he takes refuge from the premiere ofOklahoma!, a show that his colleague Rodgers performed with Oscar Hammerstein. To the spite of that infidelity is added the nervousness of the imminent encounter with the young woman who has fascinated the homosexual Hart, who projects onto her a naive romantic ideal.

"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.