On the night of March 31, 1943, famed lyricist Lorenz Hart — the scribe of such hits as “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon” — holds court at Broadway’s iconic Sardi’s bar, reminiscing about past successes. Oklahoma!, a new musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, has just premiered, marking the first collaboration of Rodgers without Hart. Marooned in his own shattered present, Hart confronts on a world transformed by war, dimmed by alcoholism, and plagued by unrequited love.
Unfolding in real time over that single evening, Richard Linklater’s sardonic drama features a larger-than-life performance by Ethan Hawke as the ailing, alcoholic, and sexually ambiguous Hart. Featuring memorable supporting turns by Andrew Scott as Rodgers and Margaret Qualley as Hart’s protégé Elizabeth, Blue Moon is at once a lacerating study of solipsism and a bittersweet meditation on the vicissitudes of friendship and art.
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance (Andrew Scott), Berlinale 2025
Richard Linklater
Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Scott
USA/Ireland
2025
English
Book Tickets
Credits
Executive Producer
Steven Farneth, Macdara Kelleher, John Keville, Donna Eperon, Lisa Crnic, David Kingland, Aaron Wiederspahn
Producer
Mike Blizzard, John Sloss, Richard Linklater
Screenwriter
Robert Kaplow
Cinematography
Shane F. Kelly
Editor
Sandra Adair
Production Design
Susie Cullen
Original Music
Graham Reynolds
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Yunan
In this haunting mood piece, Munir is a middle-aged Syrian writer in exile in Germany. In crisis, he takes himself up to one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea, a suitable place to end it all...
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
The Track
In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, three boys train for the Olympics in a bullet-ridden luge track abandoned since the 1984 Winter Games. An ambitious, hopeful look at the next generation striving to overcome the sins of their fathers.
Breaking the Waves
Kicking off our 2026 Pantheon series of the greatest films ever made, Lars von Trier's 1996 masterpiece is a devastating melodrama featuring an indelible performance from Emily Watson as the woman whose love for her husband knows no bounds.
