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Movie Review: 'First Man' Excels as a Macro View of Space Exploration and a Micro View of Humanity

This Neil Armstrong biopic immerses you into the troubled life of an American hero.

By Ben McVittiePublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in First Man, Universal Pictures

Oscar winning director Damien Chazelle's First Man tells the raw story of how America, as a nation got the the moon. However, as the titleindicates, the film chooses to tell the story specifically from the perspective of Neil Armstrong: A troubled man who is grieving the tragic loss of his child. If there is one word that describes what it feels like to watch this movie it would be immersive. The term "man in a can" has been used to describe astronauts before and First Man viscerally immerses audiences into the feeling of being hurled through space while crammed into a tiny command module held together by nuts and bolts. While it is a visceral and cinematic space-exploration drama, the primary goal of the film is to immerse audience into the grief, isolation and humanity of the first man on the the moon. The film achieves this goal masterfully.

The film begins in 1961 and we meet Neil Armstrong, played masterfully yet understatedly by Ryan Gosling. After the tragic death of Armstrong's two-year-old daughter, he finds solace in his work. He his selected by NASA to join the crew of Project Gemini, a human space-flight program with the objective to develop space travel techniques to support the Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon. His wife Janet Armstrong, portrayed passionately by Claire Foy, on the other hand, has no such outlet for her grief. The film is not shy about exploring both the love and the frustration they feel towards each other along the journey from the gemini missions, the tragic Apollo 1 disaster, all the way up to the dangerous yet triumphant Apollo 11.

As far as visuals go the film is extraordinary on both a macro and micro level. On a macro level, there is plenty of beautiful space-travel cinematography. Not to mention the extraordinary moon landing sequence shot in IMAX is one of the most mesmerizing scenes I've ever seen in a movie. However, this film is not inclined to romanticize space exploration. Instead, Chazelle's direction focuses on the claustrophobia, loneliness, danger and frustration the astronauts persevered throughout this journey.

Audiences who are only looking for an epic space exploration cinematic experience will not be disappointed, but they will have to wait for a while. The film spends more of it's runtime in the home of Neil and Janet Armstrong than it does in space. That being said, the cinematography in the Armstrong's living room, is just as good as the cinematography in outer space. And while the film is long, it never stops being compelling. One of Damien Chazelle's unique talents that make him a master filmmaker is is ability to shoot mundane conversation scenes between two characters in a way that is visually beautiful and emotionally powerful. I think immediately of the date scene in Whiplash and the dinner argument between Mia and Sebastian in La La Land. In this film Chazelle utilizes close up shots to establish tension and power and his sets are rarely lit in a conventional manner. He uses lighting and shadows, as well as extreme close up shots to show the isolation and tension between the husband and wife.

Ryan Gosling's Performance as Neil Armstrong is masterful and understated. Often times, the only acting that gets recognition is when an actor gives a performance that involves a lot of external emotion. Gosling on the other hand, doesn't give a big display of external emotion but instead presents a rich and compelling internal performance. In the film Neil Armstrong uses his work on the Gemini and Apollo projects to keep his mind occupied while dealing with the grief over his lost daughter. Gosling doesn't resort to over emoting, instead he takes advantage of every moment to subtly give audiences a peek at the loneliness and grief bottled up inside this legendary astronaut.

Claire Foy's performance as Janet Armstrong is the gold standard of best supporting actress material. Being a mother trying to raise two boys while devastated with grief from the loss of a daughter would be difficult enough. Adding to her emotional baggage is the fact that her husband is spending all of his time and energy in another world. Not to mention the added worry that that when her husband goes off to work, there is no way to guarantee that he will return. There is so much passion evident in every frame of her performance, Foy is a terrific actress and navigates the emotional struggles of her character magnificently.

The decision to make this film focused on the perspective of Neil and Janet armstrong comes at a cost. The contributions from other people like Buzz Aldrin and Ted White for example are underplayed. The rest of the cast is there not to steal the show, but to feed the narrative held by Gosling and Foy. Actors like Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler and Jason Clarke humbly and skillfully give performances that help drive the main narrative. While it is unfortunate that audiences don't get to see enough of these other characters who contributed to this achievement, I think the writers made the best choice. If the film were to dive deep into all of these characters and their contributions, not only would it be way too long, it would come off as more of a history lesson then a story-driven film.

By narrowing the narrative focus on one one man, Neil Armstrong, First Man is a powerful film about loss, sacrifice, ambition and most of all, humanity. While I can understand why some consider this film to be slow, there is not a single moment that can be considered boring. Every scene is a compelling combination of excellent acting, writing and filmmaking. I give this film my highest recommendation.

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About the Creator

Ben McVittie

Photographer, Coffee Drinker, Movie watcher and Nap Taker. I co-host the podcast "Bottom of the Bin" where I talk about bargain bin movies. Follow me on twitter @benmcv or instagram @storytimeben

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