Director Richard Linklater is the king of low-key. His early films like Slacker and Dazed and Confused paved the way for a whole generation of hangout movies with loose plots, and he’s returned to that ethos throughout his career with hits like The Before Trilogy as well as Boyhood. But he’s also built up a resume as a crowd-pleasing Hollywood director, making School of Rock with Jack Black and the slick Hit Man with Glen Powell.
Linklater’s newest film, Blue Moon, and it straddles the line between both of those worlds, making a big theatrical production starring Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley, and Bobby Cannavale out of a script that is primarily just people chatting on one fateful night in one fateful bar. Hawke stars as Lorenz Hart, the real-life man who forged a 25-year partnership with composer Richard Rodgers and then watched him write the biggest hit of his career with Oscar Hammerstein. The film follows Hart on opening night of Oklahoma!, and audiences watch as Hawke’s Hart talks and talks and talks his way through what may be one of the lousiest nights anyone could imagine having to endure.
Blue Moon is a small movie, but if you’re looking to bask in the glory of delicious monologues expertly delivered by an all-star lineup of actors, then you might be in luck. The film marks Richard Linklater’s ninth film with star Ethan Hawke, and it continues their tradition of mining incredibly small, human moments and putting them up on the big screen. Blue Moon isn’t a movie that was built to blow you away, but it may just quietly seduce you if you give it the chance.
Parker is a husband and a father, as made clear by Deadbeat’s cover, which shows him with his daughter, and his new album isn’t steeped in quite as much existential dread and questioning as some of his past work. That’s probably by design, though, and not a sign of creative decay. A slower, more stripped back and bubbly sound seems to make sense for where he’s at in his life. Despite the polarized response, Deadbeat features a number of standout moments and tracks – I’m drawn to the romance of “Piece of Heaven” and the infectious fun of “Dracula.” Tame Impala has evolved, and Tame Impala will continue to evolve. Those older albums still exist, and his new phase offers enough infectious hooks and catchy melodies to keep me coming back. Will this album become a Tame Impala cult classic? I’m not sure, and only time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll be bopping along to Loser.
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