First Man Review

 

        It only seemed appropriate to talk about the movie that showcases perhaps NASA’s best astronaut. No one could’ve imagined that we would have the technology of putting a man on the moon. This whole month was dedicated to the people that made NASA to an iconic organization, while timewise the whole presentation of the films are in fluxed. With my reminiscing out of the way, here’s First Man.

1. Neil 

        Of course, for the someteenth time, this film is based on the biography of the same name, detailing the life of Neil Armstrong. This is probably the most different in terms of NASA movies that I’ve seen throughout the whole month. You have the ones that focus on a group and a failed mission. Here though, we see an intimate portrayal of the guy. 

        Ryan Gosling does a great job of portraying the astronaut. And man you have to feel for the guy as he is just full of sadness. I’ll get to that in a moment. Throughout the movie, we see him in his tenure with the organization by becoming part of the Gemini Program and inevitably the Apollo moon missions. In between that, we see just how much he struggles with loss in his personal life and in his work. 

        As I mentioned earlier, this is an intimate view of an astronaut. I feel that this is focused more on the humanity than the actual accomplishment of going to space. From the start, we see him as a pilot willing to do the impossible. Then transition to the loss of his daughter. The only thing he has of her is a bracelet she made. 

        The big idea of the movie is this idea of loss. As we see Armstrong, we start to see just how much in terms of emotional baggage he gets. He loses his friends and coworkers within NASA to prepare for the next step of space travel. Like, he doesn’t cry but he keeps going as we see just how much he’s willing to get to the moon. 

        I feel that when people watch this, they’re going to wonder why exactly we don’t have that moment of planting the flag on the surface. The last president complained about it and maybe anyone who watches it will get disappointed. Watching it is not about that level of patriotism . Even a celebration but how much something this large a magnitude requires the sacrifice to keep going. 

2. From Music to the Stars

        This is the second movie that I’ve seen from director Damien Chazelle. You may know him for directing La La Land and Whiplash. Talk about a big shift from music and going to the moon. While I haven’t watched his recent film, the recurring motif I’ve noticed when watching First Man reminded me a lot of Whiplash in some respect. 

        You have a guy that is motivated to get to a specific place in his life. To get there, you see the main character slowly become more isolated from when he saw him at the beginning. In one way, you see Neil dedicate his work as a way to grieve. Becoming increasingly isolated from his family. So much so that his wife makes him tell his sons about the obviously dangerous mission he’s getting into. 

        One more thing I want to mention is that there were loads of moments where the action was extremely intense. I’m talking about the scene where there was an emergency when he was part of the Gemini 8 mission. I was shocked by how intense it was, exacerbating it was my sound bar which really made it more extreme. I think it’s a personal touch of Chazelle to put the audience in the situation. Like in that one moment in Whiplash with the car accident. 

        It's probably an obvious, no-brainer spoilers that Armstrong goes to the moon. That scene works in two ways. One, when he first steps off the landing module, the aspect ratio, the black rectangles, go away and the whole image completely covers the screen. It’s quiet and we see Neil just taking it in and looking back on the Earth. Two, the silence I think subverts number one by stating to us that is this all worth it. Just an empty lifeless rock where the only thing we can hear is just the breath of Armstrong.

3. Overall

        I love this film by showing us a different point of view for this astronaut. First Man is probably the only space flight movie focus on man’s sacrifice and loss in trying to get to the moon.