Review 475: First Man

First Man is an outstanding biographical drama film, emotionally powerful and elevated by two captivating performances from its two leads.

Based on the biography First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen, the film is an intimate account of the first manned mission to the moon in 1969, depicting Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and the triumphs and costs - to Armstrong, his family, particularly his wife Janet (The Crown's Claire Foy), his colleagues and their country - during the decade leading up to the historic Apollo 11 flight.

One of things that Director Damien Chazelle achieves so well with this film is present a true story that a lot of us already know and tell it in a way that feels fresh, has a lot of emotional heft to it and sheds a new light on it.
The film beautifuly encapsulates the hardships and challenges NASA went through to get what was considered at the time a dream off the ground. How unique a project it was for the time and how people were on the edge of the seats, eager to see how the project turned out.
During the 60's Armstrong and NASA were doing real-life science fiction as a trip to the moon was unheard of even in those days. These people were doing things in flying tin cans to quote Mark Kermode and that danger and death lurks at every corner.

Apart from being a it's also a deeply moving and captivating story about the grief, about someone who lost a lot of people he loved and respected and what those losses did to him: one of the main driving forces of the film is Neil Armstrong dealing with the loss of his two-and-a-half year old daughter Karen who dies early in the film of a brain tumour.
He's also deeply affected by all the astronauts and technicians who loose their lives during all the test flights.
Because of all the loss he experiences, Armstrong becomes more emotionally distant as a result.

Loss: Neil Armstrong looses everything on the way to the moon, many of the losses he has no say in: Friends, coworkers and aqueintences all dying to help put him on the moon. The loss of his little daughter Karen, cuts him so deep

Sacrifice: Tragically, death isn't the only way Neil looses people; Because of his dedication to the mission and burying himself in his work, he alienates himself from his family. He stops talking to them, he stops spending time with them, he distances himself from them. He's unable to connect with them because he's so focused on other things. He's so focused on getting to the moon that he isn't focused on supporting his family through the tough time that they're all going through just like him.

What We Valvue: 

Damien Chazelle once again shows that he's one of the most talented young directors working today, his use of closeups coupled with hand-held/shaky cam help to lend to an appropriately claustrophobic and disorientating experience, the cinematography is stunning and captures the beauty of 60's Huston as well as the claustrophobic atmosphere of the spacecrafts, the score by Justin Hurwitz is beautiful with notable use of the theremin used to convey Armstrong's sense of lonliness as well as tributing its usage in sci fi films of the 50s and 60s. The costumes are splendid, the production design (recreating the 60's) is fabulous and the ending has a strong sense of

Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy are superb in their roles as Neil & Janet Armstrong respectively.
Gosling never plays Armstrong as a larger than life figure. He excellently captures the humility, modesty and contained persona required for the part. He also expertly portrays Armstrong as pathologicaly introverted and unable to express his emotions. It's almost as if he's looking to outer space to try and find inner space; find a way to reconcile his grief. His involvement with the moon land can also be seen as his shot a redemption. He hides his pain and his grief away when he applies himself to Project Gemini; It's how he copes and allows him to find an escape and focus on something different. He doesn't need to think about his daughter when he's being put through literal hell that is perparing to go to moon.

Corey Stoll, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Pablo Schreiber, Christopher Abbot, Patrick Fugit, Gotham's Cory Michael Smith, Shea Whigham and Ciaran Hinds round out the cast
Stoll, in particular, is a stand out as Buzz Aldrin appropriately playing him as a straight up and down guy. A complete contrast to Gosling's more humble and reserved Neil Armstrong

5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.