"First Man" Review | Chazelle's Weakest Film Still Shines
First Man is an intriguing exploration of Neil Armstrong’s personal journey masked underneath his more public one that history has made everyone familiar with. While it’s perhaps Damien Chazelle’s weakest feature film, First Man still manages to impress and inspire awe.
I fondly remember the time I was introduced to Damien Chazelle’s work in 2016. In a year where I was slowly realizing my passion in consistently seeing films on the big screen and assessing what made films work and leave an impact on audiences, the film was bookmarked with one of the mesmerizing films of that year for me: La La Land.
That film was an immersive, emotional adventure that reminded me of the true power of film - the power to create stories that can make us feel the highest joys and lowest defeats that people go through. Chazelle’s writing and direction of that film still remains as some of highest quality I’ve seen in a film. Since then, I’ve seen Whiplash - Chazelle’s directing/writing role prior to La La Land -, which similarly captured complex struggles of characters while simultaneously capturing Chazelle’s passion and inspiration of music.
So I, among many fans of Chazelle’s work, was surprised to see a dramatic shift for Chazelle’s latest directorial affair. While previously directing two films that heavily involved music and the struggles of the music industry, Chazelle would now be directing a historical drama focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years leading up Apollo 11’s voyage to the moon.
Indeed, First Man feels like a far departure from anything Chazelle has worked on prior. And yet, it’s just that that manages to be telling of Chazelle’s phenomenal talent as a director. Despite tackling a source material, genre, and style that are all different from anything that he’s worked on before, Chazelle manages to craft an excellently captured and brilliantly shot movie out of First Man. While the film may struggle at characterization and feels a few minutes longer than it needs to be, First Man is a great film that shows the hidden pain behind history’s most legendary astronaut.
While other films detailing events of moon landings tend to primarily focus on the shuttle and landing, First Man takes a different approach. What we have here is more of a character study, with Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong being the centerpiece of some phenomenally realized character drama. First Man immediately establishes the grief put onto Armstrong during the decade leading up to the launch of Apollo 11 through showing us the death of Armstrong’s young daughter.
Among coping with his daughter’s passing and watching fellow astronauts die in simulations and test flights, First Man greatly highlights the reasoning behind much of Armstrong’s behavior in his personal life. As someone that wasn’t previously familiar with his background, it was admittedly surprising to see such a well-known historical figure in actuality be an introverted, emotionally inarticulate man. There are many instances where Armstrong will be haunted by visions of his late daughter, causing him to choke up and retaliate from social situations.
There’s a particularly noteworthy scene where Armstrong is looking at the moon in a telescope in his yard by himself. Another character approaches him, only to be met with Armstrong calmly saying that he’s alone in his yard because he wants to be alone. Another great instance of understanding Armstrong’s character is another gripping scene where we see an uncomfortable, very quiet family gathering before Apollo 11’s launch, where Armstrong has to state to his children that he may not be coming home. There’s a palpable sense of fear and loneliness buried underneath a layer of calmness and apparent apathy. This made Armstrong a very sympathetic and relatable character to me - he tries so hard to come off as just a man doing his job, even though he’s been traumatized by the tragedies he’s faced during his life.
Armstrong being such a well-realized character in this film is in large thanks Ryan Gosling’s phenomenal performance. As is the case with most of his performances, Gosling brings a calm, understated performance, which feels appropriate for an introverted man that kept many parts of his life private. In addition, Claire Foy’s performance as Janet Shearon, Armstrong’s first wife. Foy’s vivacity nicely contrasts with Gosling’s calmness, making both characters feel both real and believable with one another.
However, the great characterization in this film is unfortunately limited to Neil and Janet, as other characters in this film struggle to make a significant impression. Most notably, characters involved with Gemini and Apollo missions feel very underdeveloped, as we get very limited perspective of their characters. Even more notable figures, such as Buzz Aldrin (played by Corey Stoll), are difficult to care for in this film given that this film’s writing and direction don’t give us much of an opportunity to know and care about them.
This makes some scenes involving the deaths of some Armstrong’s colleagues lack the emotional punch that they could have potentially had. When the writing and characterization revolves around Armstrong and his family, this film is gripping, emotional, and intense. It’s only when the writing shows characters outside of the scope of Armstrong’s family that the writing feels fairly weak.
Lastly, the soundtrack of this film deserves a special mention. Both La La Land and Whiplash fittingly had amazing soundtracks given that they both had stories that were intertwined with music. Given that First Man is a departure from Chazelle’s history of music-focused stories, I wasn’t if whether or not this film would have a soundtrack of any particular note. However, this film’s soundtrack is simply breathtaking. From showcasing the loneliness of Armstrong looking at the moon in his yard while thinking of his deceased daughter to the awe of landing on the moon, this film delivers a beautiful soundtrack that greatly enhances the emotional weight of this film.
There’s a leitmotif in many songs throughout the soundtrack that greatly notates the fear and loneliness of Armstrong’s character which gradually becomes more energetic and climactic as the film progresses. This film proves that even without a music-involved story, strong soundtracks seem to be an inherent factor of Chazelle’s movie-making DNA.
When First Man focuses on Armstrong and his family, it’s as phenomenal of a character study as you can great. The film unfortunately manages to stumble a bit when trying to shed light on characters outside of Armstrong’s family, making me feel that if a few scenes were cut and we had slightly more focus put on Neil and Janet’s relationship and more about their kids and how they impacted Neil’s mentality, we could have had one of the historical character dramas on our hands. As is, though, First Man is an impressive feat for Chazelle.
First Man is nothing like his previous two directorial roles, and yet it managed to immerse me, leaving me in awe at many of the shots (I’m a sucker for shots of helmets that show both eyes of wonder and awe with the reflection of planets or moons, and this film has that in spades). With strong performances, incredible direction, and a screenplay that, while strong with central characters, struggles with handling all of the film’s characters, First Man is a curious, heartfelt, and insightful film.
Final Grade: A-
Thanks for reading! What did you think of First Man? As always, join the conversation and let me know what you think!
