Blue Moon Blu Ray Review (Sony Pictures Classics)

Blue Moon is a 2025 drama produced and directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Slacker, Before Sunrise, The Newton Boys, SubUrbia, School of Rock, Bad News Bears, and A Scanner Darkly). It was written by Robert Kaplow (Me and Orson Welles). It was produced by Mike Blizzard (Hit Man, No No: A Dockumentary, Nouvelle Vague, and Clemente) and John Sloss (Green Book, Everybody Wants Some!!, Last Flag Flying, I’m Not There, City of Hope, American Buffalo, Boys Don’t Cry, Session 9, Hamlet, and Friends with Kids). It grossed $2,938,107 during it’s limited theatrical run. On the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart (played by: Ethan Hawke from Training Day, Dead Poets Society, Gattaca, Great Expectations, The Black Phone franchise, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, and Reality Bites) confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers (played by: Andrew Scott from Spectre, Victor Frankenstein, Wake Up Dead Man, Ripley, 1917, and Sherlock) celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical ‘Oklahoma!’. Blue Moon feels more like a Broadway play than an actual film. It basically all takes place at a bar mainly with one character interacting with a variety of different people during the night. Director Richard Linklater and lead actor Ethan Hawke have made a great team since 1995. They have worked together on several projects over the years which includes Before Sunrise, The Newton Boys, Waking Life, Tape, Before Sunset, Before Midnight, and Boyhood. It’s literally nothing but dialogue so the script is very sharp when it comes to that. It’s a talky feature, that’s all that happens in this. It shows human interaction and someone having a bad run of luck. Ethan Hawke transforms into Lorenz Hart. He’s so damn good in that the audience almost forgets it’s Ethan Hawke as the lead. He doesn’t look like himself at all. He channels every bit of the neurotic writer that made so many hits back in the day. It’s a complex character study for Blue Moon that just keeps your attention. This might be the best actual acting performance from the veteran but unfortunately Blue Moon just kinda got lost in the mix. Lorenz Hart tells people what they want to hear when he’s around. His opinion consistently change depending on the conversation. He has big dreams and creative ideas but he’s not doing anything with it. Whenever he thinks something good is about to take place, it falls apart like everything else. Andrew Scott shows up later on as the successful Richard Rodgers. He’s nothing like his former writing partner Lorenz Hart and sadly that’s probably what makes him a winner. He feels sorry for his estranged friend and he even tries to reunite to give him some additional work. Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man franchise, MaXXXine, The Irishman, Boardwalk Empire, and Chef) is the bartender Eddie. He’s the main ear to Lorenz Hart’s bullshit. He listens to it all but he’s not afraid to be honest. The fact that he spends most of his time at Eddie’s bar almost makes them friends at this point. Their chemistry is top notch, it really makes things interesting during the night. Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Honey Don’t!, The Substance, The Nice Guys, and Poor Things) almost steals the show as Elizabeth Weiland. She’s stunning, she’s the ultimate eye candy to Lorenz Hart even though everyone questions his sexuality but he seems to like everyone so it’s still not really explored. She has a smaller part and she pops up every once in awhile. Her name is brought up all the time because of the crush plus Hart thinks he has a chance at sleeping with her. She’s quick to tell him about her past lover that she’s stressed over so he’s put in the friend zone. It’s another strike against the unlucky Hart. I do enjoy that Margaret Qualley likes to test her talents with lots of sub-genres and unique styles. She’s never the same in any movie, she’s desperate in this for fame in Blue Moon and she will abandon anyone for it. The rest of the supporting cast includes Patrick Kennedy (Atonement), Jonah Lees (Superman), Simon Delaney (The Conjuring 2), Giles Surridge (The Crown), Cillian Sullivan (Spilt Milk), Michael James Ford (Rawhead Rex), Anne Brogan (In the Land of Saints and Sinners), and David Rawle (Small Town, Big Story). The lead character is extremely lonely despite being always in a social environment. He keeps dwelling on past success while his old collaborator is still making hits without him. It shows the audience his self destruction and obvious alcoholism that took his life months after this experience. Blue Moon is really impressive for the fact that it’s based on letters from Lorenz Hart reminiscing about this painful memory. Blue Moon is definitely not for everyone but if it is, there’s a good chance that you are going to love it. In this modern day and TikTok world, most of the general public doesn’t have much of an attention span so they would probably hate this. Then again, they most likely wouldn’t be reading a review anyways because it’s not some dumb quick video. Blue Moon is all about the talent and pure skill that drives it to something worthwhile. It requires patience, I personally think it’s worth investing the time. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Sony Pictures Classics! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks amazing for it’s Blu Ray debut on home video. It has excellent cinematography and it’s all in the same great bar location. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the disc. As I said above, nothing crazy happens here. It’s all about chats and conversations. Music is very important to the story so there’s plenty of that in Blue Moon so that’s the highlight when it comes to the audio. All of the dialogue is crisp, the drama is elevated, and the music has massive boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has the “Theatrical Trailer” for Blue Moon. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!