Thirty years ago Richard Linklater competed in Berlin with his third length, Before dawn, The first installment of a sentimental trilogy that marked any generation of cinephiles. “You never know,” says the Texan before a group of journalists hours before the world premiere of his new work, Blue Moon. “I say it because I remember that at the press conference they asked Ethan (Hawke) and me if we would return to work together, and we both replied: ‘I hope yes.’ Really, you never know, because I had been in the Berlinale within a cycle of indies Americans with my first length, and two people came to the pass. ” Some time later, the glory in the German capital with the silver bear for Boyhood In 2014, after its 12 -year filming. Today, Linklater and, obviously, Hawke, they cannot move without sign autographs, take photos and receive compliments as part of the filmmakers who have managed to safeguard art over commercial interests, something that worries Linklater a lot to his 64 years .
Blue Moon It takes place in a very specific day and site: in the bar bar of the Sardi’s restaurant on March 31, 1943, on the premiere night of Okaa Oklahoma! In New York. In that stool and before his favorite waiter his frustration drowns the lyricist Lorenz Hart, author of the lyrical part of songs such as Blue Moon, The Lady Is a Tramp, Isn’t It Romantic? o My Funny Valentine, In addition to 28 musicals always next to the musician Richard Rodgers. However, Rodgers was fed up with Hart’s alcoholism and created another artistic duo with Oscar Hammerstein, a collaboration that started with Okaa Oklahoma! That night in New York, Hart, bisexual, alcoholized, of no more than a meter and a half, he understood that he was going to lose his friend Richard, and although they would still collaborate once again when writing six new songs for the reestrene of his musical A Connecticut YankeeHart died from a pneumonia and alcoholized on November 22, that 1943.
Linklater, before starting, confirms that the film, which in its 90% develops at the bar, was filmed in 15 days, that no digital effects have been used to dwelling Hawke, which of course marks a brutal tour de force As Hart appearing and speaking on all the planes (he used camera tricks) and that in the Cannes Festival he will participate “almost almost certain” with his other 2025 film, New wave, shot in black and white in France and describes the production of Out of breath, of Godard.
For Linklater, Blue Moon He speaks of “long -term friendship, creativity and love of art.” After breathing a moment, he finishes: “Those are really my personal priorities.” On his passion for music, which is broadcast through all his films, the filmmaker explains: “I love that era of American music. Rodgers and Hammerstein were geniuses, they composed the musical South Pacific. Although there is something very true: music is not easily translated to other cultures as another arts. They and Lorenz were genuinely American. ” And Lorenz Hart points about his admiration: “In music everything goes faster. I was interested in the point of view was Hart’s. Because suddenly he understands that it is an animal in extinction, he knows that he is great in his work but that the tastes of the public, as Rodgers insists, have changed. That will become news of the past. That is why, he, who never had hairs on his tongue, feels released to say a couple of things to the face of the rest at that party after the premiere. ”
Blue Moon It is an “intimate film”, almost a camera piece that, although also speaks of the theater, “was never thought about doing in theater, it was only and is cinema.” There are its strengths, such as interpretations and dialogues, and their weaknesses: Linklater is a master of freshness, not the staging or has a palette of wide visual records. He promotes himself Blue Moon On the defensive, and if it does not describe it as amusement it is because, deep down, love that period of American music and does not want to belittle it.
Linklater has pointed out that those years were not easy for gays or bisexuals like Hart, and that the music of that time was genuinely American. Isn’t a message sent to the current public, do you understand that there is an echo of the narrated on the screen to what is currently lived in your country? As almost all Americans present in the contest, the filmmaker does not name Trump: “An oppressive government is being deployed. There are attacks against freedoms such as sexual, true, or trans rights. But you have to wait, see how events take place, see where we are going. The perspective is important. Throughout history we have learned that we progress a little, then a period of stagnation arrives, which follows another advance, another break … ”.
Will this government affect the cinema made? “I doubt it. In the three decades that I never carry out the policy of a government has affected my way of making movies. Actually, neither mine, nor industry. What affects cinema is the economy. And I would tell you that no US government has controlled the economy alone. I even think it has been the other way around. ”
Two hours later, at the press conference, Ethan Hawke will be more forceful: “The community has to make it important that art be that spark in the dark, that is offensive and find a place in our conversation. You have to take care of it. Because when money is prioritized at all costs, the result is a valid generic material for all. If you love that type of provocative art, then exit it. At this time, people do not believe they will earn money with that cinema, so it is not done. ” Linklater travels through a more ambiguous position: “Offensive times evoke offensive art. But cinema in particular, among all the arts, has always had an escapist facet. I think today most human psyche want to escape a little. And that is why less provocative art is created now than in the past. ”
Nostalgia for a time without so much technology
The filmmaker confesses something nostalgic, laughs at the digital problems of his children when “they run out of battery on their mobile and are not able to reach an appointment with their friends at two blocks.” In his case, he feels “a privileged.” “Because I don’t have social networks, and those who start now are obliged to create another personality in networks. With the current mobile empire, I should have rethink Before dawn. Long distance relationships were built differently, calling on the phone was expensive … Anyway, everything was more romantic. However, I don’t want to live in the past. ”
He grants that the history of cinema has been a constant battle between art and economy. “Of which, by the way, I have fought almost all my life. In this case, we filmed with very little money in 15 days, and despite the cast (in addition to Hawk, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley and Bobby Cannavale) we left Sonny Classics cheap, who opted for this film. My feeling is that we are falling into an absolute marketing of cinema. ”
Is it optimistic about the future? “Man, I am worried about the current situation. You have to be aware of what happens, although also of our advances. And I think in the end people lean together to get ahead. I have no choice: I’m moderately optimistic. ”