Richard Linklater’s wistful “Blue Moon” is a tiny story about enormous heartbreak, with an artist at its center all too aware that the spotlight has passed him by. Lorenz “Larry” Hart (Ethan Hawke, uncannily transformed into a man both short and balding) was a shining star from the mid-’20s to the early ‘40s; with composer Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), he created a stream of beloved classic songs (“My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “Bewitched” and the movie’s melancholy title song, just to name a few).

But alcohol addiction ended Hart’s partnership with Rodgers, his career and his life. The film’s brief prologue, set in a dark Manhattan alley, shows a staggering Hart singing sadly to himself in the rain (a full pendulum swing from Gene Kelly’s joy) before collapsing onto the wet pavement; we then hear the beginnings of a radio obituary for “one of America’s foremost songwriters.” In real life, Hart died of pneumonia after exposure on a sodden night, aged just 48.

Other than that initial scene, “Blue Moon” takes place entirely on one New York evening in 1943, less than a year before Hart’s death, at Sardi’s bar. It’s opening night of Rodgers’ smash-hit musical “Oklahoma!,” written with new partner Oscar Hammerstein, and Hart is there because, well, he wants to be part of the scene, and he can’t quite believe that what he sees as a silly feel-good show could possibly be what Rodgers — and the public — wants. “Who wants inoffensive art?” he demands, to a sympathetic bartender (Bobby Cannavale) and a young lounge pianist (Jonah Lees). And he’s achingly, hopelessly in love with a much younger woman (Margaret Qualley); never mind that it’s pretty clear to everyone that Hart is a closeted gay man, at a time when being uncloseted was not an option.

Linklater really nails the atmosphere here; watching “Blue Moon” feels like sitting with smart people in a retro bar, covered in a gentle blanket of cocktail piano. And Hawke, often surrounded by wafting symphonies of cigar smoke, gives a beautifully shaded performance, of equal parts bravado and vulnerability. His scenes with Scott are heartbreaking: Hart is desperate to recapture Rodgers’ attention, but knows deep down that his former partner has moved on. It’s a devastating loss, but this troubled man — in love with words and art and beauty — tries valiantly to cover it. “We wear our vulnerability like a cloak,” he says of writers, in a quiet moment, “for all the world to witness.”

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'BLUE MOON'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language and sexual references)

Running time: 1:40

How to watch: Now in theaters

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