“First Man” tells the story of the preparation of the human landing on the moon and, in fact, about the mission itself through the eyes of Neil Armstrong, covering the period from 1961 to 1969. At the same time, relations in the astronaut’s family are given almost half of the screen time. This is one of the sources of drama in the movie, Neil is going through the death of his young daughter, he is busy at work and spends little time with his family. In the movie Armstrong is played by Ryan Gosling and in this role he reminds a bit of his character Kay in “Blade Runner 2049”, the same silent character, who a couple of times allows himself a strong display of emotion. But as Neil Armstrong’s contemporaries note, he really wasn’t a very talkative and emotional person, so we can say that Gosling almost coped with the role. Why almost? The actor has a hard time with the transition from reticence to spilling out emotions, and in these moments he slightly overplayed. Who has no problem with this is actress Claire Foy, who played Janet Sharon, Neil’s first wife. Given the role, she perfectly plays the whole gamut of emotions, making you empathize with the events in the life of the Armstrong family.
Secondary characters in the movie are given less screen time, but it can not be said that they are not memorable. Viewers will hardly have trouble identifying astronaut Edward White (Jason Clarke) or Donald “Dick” Slayton (Kyle Chandler), the first chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. Even Corey Stoll as Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, making a cameo appearance, doesn’t fall out of the story. In general, the script gives all the characters a chance to reveal themselves, and there are no problems in understanding their motivations.
In the movie, the director works a lot with close-ups, allowing himself to occasionally stretch the common ones. At the same time, unlike Villeneuve, Chazelle keeps the dynamics of the narrative, he does not try to give the viewer more time to enjoy the visuals. So even in spite of the decent timing of more than two hours, the movie looks in one breath.
Working on the script Josh Singer did a great job, spending 4 years to study Armstrong’s biography, so all the events and people in the movie are quite real. Even Neil’s neighborhood with Edward White is not a fiction made up for the sake of the script. But to enhance the dramatic effect, Singer uses the same technique. At a critical moment, he cuts off the protagonist from the world around him, forcing him to experience what happened on his own. Although Armstrong was never alone in moments of grief, he had a family, his colleagues on the project and friends. They certainly experienced what happened as much as he did. This creates a certain dissonance, because even in the movie Neil is not a hermit and not a closed person, he interacts with other characters quite successfully.
At the same time, the film does not focus much on the problems of the Gemini program, which became the basis for the launch of the Apollo missions, leaving them largely out of the picture. This wouldn’t be a problem for a regular biopic, but “First Man” doesn’t show us Armstrong’s entire biography, only a few years of his life, part of which was the preparation for the moon mission. From the movie you only get a glimpse of how this preparation took place, and if you were previously interested in this topic, you will not learn anything new.
However, “First Man” still covers the main episodes of Armstrong’s biography, related to space. This is a flight on an experimental airplane-rocket plane North American X-15, and the mission “Gemini-8”, during which the first docking of spacecraft was carried out, although not quite successful, well as the actual launch of the rocket “Saturn-V” and flight “Apollo-11”, which delivered Neil Armstrong to the Moon, allowed him to step on its surface and return back to Earth.
It should be noted that the director was meticulous in his approach to show the audience all the equipment that helped people to prepare for the flight and go to the Moon. Part of the shooting was conducted as if from the cockpit of these aircrafts, which on the one hand allowed Damien Chazelle to save on special effects, and on the other hand created for the audience the effect of presence.
What else pleases in the picture is the absence of pathos and clichés. You will not see in the movie the installation of the American flag on the surface of the Moon, to which the director could devote a minute or two. Although the movie itself is certainly a great propaganda of NASA’s achievements and, consequently, of the USA as a state.
“First Man” tells the story of the preparation of the human landing on the moon and, in fact, about the mission itself through the eyes of Neil Armstrong, covering the period from 1961 to 1969. At the same time, relations in the astronaut’s family are given almost half of the screen time. This is one of the sources of drama in the movie, Neil is going through the death of his young daughter, he is busy at work and spends little time with his family. In the movie Armstrong is played by Ryan Gosling and in this role he reminds a bit of his character Kay in “Blade Runner 2049”, the same silent character, who a couple of times allows himself a strong display of emotion. But as Neil Armstrong’s contemporaries note, he really wasn’t a very talkative and emotional person, so we can say that Gosling almost coped with the role. Why almost? The actor has a hard time with the transition from reticence to spilling out emotions, and in these moments he slightly overplayed. Who has no problem with this is actress Claire Foy, who played Janet Sharon, Neil’s first wife. Given the role, she perfectly plays the whole gamut of emotions, making you empathize with the events in the life of the Armstrong family.
Secondary characters in the movie are given less screen time, but it can not be said that they are not memorable. Viewers will hardly have trouble identifying astronaut Edward White (Jason Clarke) or Donald “Dick” Slayton (Kyle Chandler), the first chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. Even Corey Stoll as Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, making a cameo appearance, doesn’t fall out of the story. In general, the script gives all the characters a chance to reveal themselves, and there are no problems in understanding their motivations.
In the movie, the director works a lot with close-ups, allowing himself to occasionally stretch the common ones. At the same time, unlike Villeneuve, Chazelle keeps the dynamics of the narrative, he does not try to give the viewer more time to enjoy the visuals. So even in spite of the decent timing of more than two hours, the movie looks in one breath.
Working on the script Josh Singer did a great job, having spent 4 years studying Armstrong’s biography, so all the events and people in the movie are quite real. Even Neil’s neighborhood with Edward White is not a fiction made up for the sake of the script. But to enhance the dramatic effect, Singer uses the same technique. At a critical moment, he cuts off the protagonist from the world around him, forcing him to experience what happened on his own. Although Armstrong was never alone in moments of grief, he had a family, his colleagues on the project and friends. They certainly experienced what happened as much as he did. This creates a certain dissonance, because even in the movie Neil is not a hermit and not a closed person, he interacts quite successfully with other characters.
At the same time, the picture does not focus much on the problems of the Gemini program, which became the basis for the launch of the Apollo missions, leaving them largely out of the picture. This wouldn’t be a problem for a regular biopic, but “First Man” doesn’t show us Armstrong’s entire biography, only a few years of his life, part of which was the preparation for the moon mission. From the movie you only get a glimpse of how this preparation took place, and if you were previously interested in this topic, you will not learn anything new.
However, “First Man” still covers the main episodes of Armstrong’s biography, related to space. This is a flight on an experimental airplane-rocket plane North American X-15, and the mission “Gemini-8”, during which the first docking of spacecraft was carried out, although not quite successful, well as the actual launch of the rocket “Saturn-V” and flight “Apollo-11”, which delivered Neil Armstrong to the Moon, allowed him to step on its surface and return back to Earth.
It should be noted that the director was meticulous in his approach to show the audience all the equipment that helped people to prepare for the flight and go to the Moon. Part of the shooting was conducted as if from the cockpit of these aircrafts, which on the one hand allowed Damien Chazelle to save on special effects, and on the other hand created for the audience the effect of presence.
What else pleases in the picture is the absence of pathos and clichés. You will not see in the movie the installation of the American flag on the surface of the Moon, to which the director could devote a minute or two. Although the movie itself is definitely a great propaganda of NASA’s achievements and, consequently, of the USA as a state.
Conclusion:
“First Man” is an interesting mix of a biopic, historical and family drama centered around the figure of Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon. And even though the main character in the movie is shown to be overly withdrawn, and the script does not pay much attention to the details of the preparation for the flight and landing on the moon, the picture is watched in one breath
Pros:
Directing, interesting story at the core, good character development, Claire Foy as Armstrong’s first wife
Minuses:
Would have liked to see more details about the Gemini missions and preparations for the launch of Apollo 11
First Man movie meaning
Genre melodrama
Directed by Damien Chazelle
Starring Ryan Gosling (Neil Armstrong), Claire Foy (Janet Sharon), Jason Clarke (Edward White), Kyle Chandler (Donald “Dick” Slayton), Corey Stoll (Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin) and others.
Universal Studios, DreamWorks, Temple Hill Productions
Year of release 2018
IMDb Website
