Blue Moon, from Director Richard Linklater, is a biopic of the renowned lyricist Lorenz Hart, and it’s an engrossing character study of a severely flawed genius in his last year. Set in the Broadway of 1943, there’s a crazy attraction to the film, and its subject, that parallels the fascination we have with car accidents - how we can’t stop but gawk, and gaze as the tragedy/disaster unfolds.

In 1943, Lorenz had already poisoned the long relationship he had nurtured with Richard Rodgers. They had collaborated for decades, creating shows and songs that will live on forever, including My Funny Valentine, The Lady Is A Tramp, Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered), and Blue Moon. One of the opening scenes is of Hart (Ethan Hawke) and his mother watching the opening night of Oklahoma, the musical that signalled the new partnership of Rodgers (Andrew Scott), with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney). Hart walks out and heads to Sardi’s, where he knows the after-party will be held.

Not only is this a form of self-flagellation for the lyricist, but we discover that while he’s a confirmed homosexual, he’s smitten by a 20-year old Yale student, whose mother sits on the Theatre Guild. Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley, real-life daughter of Andie MacDowell, and wife of Jack Antonoff) is the young woman who has swept Lorenz’s heart and mind, and she happens to be a helping hand for the after-party. Bartender at Sardi’s is Eddie (Bobby Cannavale), and there’s the writer EB White (Patrick Kennedy) - they become the foils to Hart, as he pontificates and displays his razor-sharp wit.

Unfortunately, Hart is too smart for his own good, and in the course of the single night, we discover just why Rodgers had to stop collaborating with him, and how Hart has a special gift for shooting himself in the foot. That throughout all this, we are still charmed and beguiled by Hart owes much to what Ethan invests in his astonishing portrayal. There’s a bad combover, the constant reminder that the real Hart was a shade over five feet, the alcohol, and the bad teeth - and Ethan brings all that baggage, while unearthing the genius and the sincere caring for his craft that was Lorenz.

Andrew Scott is wonderful as Richard Rodgers, showcasing how Rodgers still wanted to partner with Hart, and not turn his back completely on the now undependable songwriter. Qualley makes for the desirable muse, who does love Hart, but ‘not in that way’.

The screenplay does get a bit too cute at times, like the appearance of a very young Stephen Sondheim and the way the dialogue suggests that it was Hart who gave author EB White the idea for his Stuart Little books.

But with Broadway and musicals in the background, there’s much to like about this film. I’ve not watched Chalamet in Marty Supreme or Moura in The Secret Agent yet, but if Ethan gets nominated in the other Awards shows, his stealing a Best Actor win would be well-deserved - this is a defining portrayal for the Actor, and it’s nice to see him accomplishing this in a project with long-time collaborator Richard Linklater.

Hoping this film will be shown in cinemas very soon, watch out for it!