Berlin25 · cinema

Film review: Blue Moon

 It’s been thirty years since the first collaboration between actor Ethan Hawke and filmmaker Richard Linklater, when they began working on the now beloved ‘Before’ trilogy. They have reunited for period piece Blue Moon which, like a lot of the director’s work, takes place across one day – or one evening in this case to be more specific.

 Set almost entirely in a New York City bar in 1943, the historical snapshot plot centres around troubled lyricist Lorenz Hart (Hawke) after he attends the opening night of stage musical Oklahoma! on Broadway. Feeling bitter about his writing partner Richard Rodgers’ (Andrew Scott) success in his new duo with Oscar Hammerstein II, he distracts himself and everyone else around him by regaling them with stories of his infatuation for Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), a 20-year-old student who he claims is his latest protégé.

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DVD & Digital

DVD review: Everybody Wants Some!!

everybodywantssome
  In 1993, writer and director Richard Linklater helped launch the careers of Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey with cult teen comedy Dazed & Confused. Now he is back in the same academic territory with what is being considered the ‘spiritual sequel’. Named after the Van Halen song, coming-of-age flick Everybody Wants Some!! follows freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) as he begins a baseball scholarship in Texas 1980. When he arrives at his new digs, he meets his many housemates including party animal Finnegan (Glen Powell), fun-loving Dale (J. Quinton Johnson) and hallucinogen hooligan Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), and is instantly initiated into their chaotic college culture.

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DVD & Digital

DVD review: Boyhood

boyhood

The growing up process is, of course, universally familiar and we’re no stranger to watching characters age on screen. Whether it’s child actors transitioning to adulthood across many years on television or film franchises, or fictional characters lives developing through various actors, it is a progression that we are very used to. In a project that was filmed across a twelve year period, forward-thinking director Richard Linklater presents a coming-of-age story with unique scope. ‘Boyhood’ stars Ellar Coltrane as Mason Jr who starts the film a six-year-old boy riding around care-free on his bike, and ends an eighteen-year-old ready to start college. Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette play Mason’s parents and his older sister is portrayed by Lorelai Linklater, who is the daughter of the director. The film steadily follows Mason and his family’s growth, through their ups and downs, and revolutionises the art of storytelling in doing so.

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