FIRST MAN – Review

Coming off of the jovial and colorful burst of life that is LA LA LAND, it’s surprising that Damien Chazelle takes audiences on quite a grim journey. FIRST MAN feels less like a patriotic, proud moment in American history and more like an exploration of paralyzing and dreadful fear. It’s the fear of what we can’t control in life. The audience may fear for the man in the pilot seat, but it’s the man who fears for his lack of control outside of the pilot seat.

Based on the book by James R. Hansen, FIRST MAN explores the sacrifices that Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) put himself, his wife Janet (Claire Foy), and kids through as he helps NASA achieve their ultimate goal: Be the first country to land a man on the moon. In the process, the engineer-turned-astronaut cheats death several times (as seen in the nail-biting opening scene while flying an X-15), butts heads with the outspoken Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll), and witnesses friends and family taken from his life.

It becomes immediately apparent that conveying the physical nature of NASA’s trials and tribulations leading to the Apollo 11 mission is the film’s main mission. Chazelle seems to take pleasure in showing the physical demands of the job and presents it as a rather thankless one at that. Immersive sound design and stark visual storytelling truly make it feel like you are in the front seat going full-speed into a galactic horror film. It’s a long, loud, and very bleak journey into the unknown.

Claire Foy (The Crown) is the wife and mother at home who has to force a calm and collected composure as her husband hurdles himself forward into the brink of death. Without the help of much dialogue, Foy is left to convey her inner turmoil through her emotive eyes. Almost ironically, considering the wide-open expanse of space, Chazelle and cinematographer Linus Sandgren shoot mostly in close-up, making the faces seem larger than life – often quite blurry, as well, when the men are strapped in. It’s an effective storytelling device even though it becomes a bit tiresome.

Ryan Gosling and the script by Josh Singer portray Neil Armstrong as someone who can solve last-minute calculations within seconds, and yet, struggles with communicating with his wife and children. Working with a bare-bones script, Gosling attempts to present a man who is simply putting his head down and moving full-steam ahead. His typical puppy-dog eyes become unblinking headlights, illuminating the way towards NASA’s goal. However, Gosling feels less like a blue-collar worker getting the job done at all costs and more like an empty straw man – perhaps a symbol for how Chazelle truly feels about the mission.

FIRST MAN is eager to point out that the moon landing is only a happy story in our minds because we like to remember it as a grand achievement in American History. In one scene, Gil Scott-Heron’s song of racial inequality, ‘Whitey on the Moon,” is even juxtaposed with imagery of NASA prepping for the big liftoff. The “Space Race” is presented in a tragic way as opposed to a triumph. Nothing says this more than the final shots of the film. At what cost do we push ourselves for our own professional endeavors? While Neil Armstrong might have represented “One giant leap for mankind,” Chazelle questions if the journey was worth the man losing his humanity.

Overall score: 3.5 out of 5

FIRST MAN opens in theaters everywhere Friday, Oct. 12th, 2018