It is that point of the 12 months once more! Because the 12 months involves an finish, awards season picks up extra gas, and all of us within the movie neighborhood wait with bated breath for essentially the most anticipated occasions of the 12 months – the Oscars, and earlier than it, the announcement of this 12 months’s Academy Award nominees. It is time to begin inserting bets.
Do you suppose the 2026 Finest Image Oscars race is over as a result of One Battle After One other has picked up momentum and Sinners will not win as a result of it is a horror film? Or perhaps you’re within the group of cinephiles who consider Sentimental Worth or It Was Simply An Accident ought to win the Finest Image Oscar? Now’s the time to choose sides.
My favourite a part of awards season is being reminded of the flicks from earlier within the 12 months or the extra crowded occasions of the 12 months that I might forgotten about and even missed once they first launched. December turns into the month for catching up, and ever for the reason that 2026 Golden Globes nominations, I have been reassessing my opinions about 2025’s greatest motion pictures.
Blue Moon Is A Self-Conscious Dramedy About The Theater Business
It was after his Golden Globe nomination that I spotted I might stopped following Ethan Hawke’s 2025 film, which additionally marked his reunion with Richard Linklater, which is a candy duo for any followers of the best romance film trilogy. Watching Blue Moon satisfied me that extra folks should be speaking about it and appreciating its possibilities of Oscar glory.
Blue Moon follows Lorenz Hart on opening evening of his long-time theater-writing companion Richard Rodgers’ eponymous musical, Oklahoma! Hart is bitter, heartbroken, nostalgic, narcissistic, and grappling with the belief that his second is perhaps over. The movie is aware of its protagonist’s flaws, however treats him with respect, even commenting on the fleeting nature of fame within the performing arts.
The power of the movie lies in its charming dialogue, which, as Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott level out in an interview, is predicated on being attentive to the character within the second, as a substitute of generically protecting memorable factors from his life, like taking essentially the most superficial tour. This distinctive strategy to creating a biopic makes Blue Moon stand out.
Blue Moon Options One Of Ethan Hawke’s Finest Performances Ever
Whereas the make-up and costume departments deserve applause for remodeling Ethan Hawke, what you first discover about him in Blue Moon is the best way he loses himself within the persona of Lorenz Hart. You would not know he is reciting traces from reminiscence. The ache and mischief in his eyes make you suppose he knew Hart at that time of his life.
Virtually each assessment of Blue Moon has targeted on the power of Hawke’s efficiency as a result of it is important to the movie. Because it depends largely on his potential to sincerely monologue as a melancholic man with out betraying his personal emotions about Lorenz Hart’s egocentric opinions and actions, Hawke deserves his Golden Globe nomination, and I hope an Oscar nomination will observe.
Blue Moon’s Screenplay Deserves Extra Recognition
What Hawke turns into one in all his greatest performances, changing into a 2026 Finest Actor Oscar contender, comes from essentially the most memorable screenplay for a biopic that I’ve encountered lately. Linklater refuses to fall into the trimmings of portray the portrait of a life in actual time, selecting as a substitute the impactful evening that lets him achieve this with subtlety.
Hart’s observations about life are brimming with each eager intelligence and bitter self-importance. The screenplay’s power lies in permitting him to sound like he did as a substitute of overly criticizing or worshiping him. Richard Linklater ought to obtain a nomination for writing Blue Moon, but when the Golden Globe nominations are any indication, he would possibly miss out on an Academy Award nomination.
Margaret Qualley Quietly Delivers A Robust Efficiency In Blue Moon
Margaret Qualley has emerged as probably the most reliable and promising voices within the movie trade, and Blue Moon ought to additional solidify her presence. She holds her personal reverse Ethan Hawke in arguably the most effective scene within the film, the place her character, Elizabeth Weiland, excitedly tells Lorenz Hart the winding story of her sexual escapades along with her present crush.
Blue Moon‘s 90% approval ranking on Rotten Tomatoes is in no small half as a consequence of her, as a result of that scene bounces between her and Hawke, and the liveliness she demonstrates is in good sync with Hart’s determined makes an attempt to really feel younger by collaborating in gossip. Qualley’s expressive eyes elevate her efficiency, and also you turn into simply as captivated by her as Hart.
Richard Linklater Is Nonetheless Amongst The Finest Administrators Working Right this moment
Each few years, Richard Linklater returns to remind us that he is probably the greatest administrators within the trade. Since his function movie debut within the late ’80s, he is been demonstrating his experience with dialogue. He can maintain you invested in any dialog along with his sharp writing and directing abilities, protecting the digital camera transferring, however by no means sufficient to interrupt immersion.
Whereas it seems unlikely that he’ll obtain a Finest Route Oscar nomination, it’s fascinating that he has managed to jot down and direct two biopics in such a brief span of time, utilizing distinctive approaches to a style that is identified for being formulaic. The Academy’s love for biopics, nonetheless, ensures the movie will function among the many greater 2026 Oscar nominees.