Page 2 November 8, 2018
Entertainment
Ryan Gosling Is a Sailor
of the Stars in First Man
By Ryan Rojas for www.cinemacy.com
The moon, perched high in the sky, sits
magisterially and quietly dignified. Like
a watchful mother keeping eyes over her
children that run around in the backyard
of an adult dinner party, her protecting
presence observes all. In director Damien
Chazelle’s eyes – and as he portrays in
his latest film, First Man – this celestial
entity is a shared spiritual ancestor to the
first man to ever set foot on the moon,
Neil Armstrong. Just as silently solemn,
we see a man who was a brilliant engineer,
loving father and lonely sailor of the stars.
First Man sets out to be many things.
Telling the story of the eight years prior
to his famed moon landing – including early
tests and unsuccessful trials that weighed
heavy on all involved – it’s a wonderfully
exacted and historically accurate period piece
dense with action-adventure elements that
are captured with stunning practical effects
and visionary camerawork. However, the real
survival story that Chazelle focuses on is on
the ground where Armstrong navigates the
tragedies of life, including the early loss of
his youngest child to cancer.
This is where the film’s center is -- a small
character drama grounded not only by gravity
but in the realities of life that surround
him. It is Chazelle’s and screenwriter Josh
Singer’s interest and portrayal of this smaller
side of history that characterizes Armstrong
as well as challenges the film. Armstrong
is no space cowboy, but rather an engineer
who thinks physics is “neat.” To this end, I
wish that Chazelle and company would have
gotten more swept up into the romance of
the cosmos.
In First Man, Ryan Gosling offers his
quietly powerful persona to this real-life
stoic man of few words, bringing steadfast
commitment and beautiful restraint to the
role. It’s the enigmatic Claire Foy as Janet
Armstrong who adds the necessary pulse and
life force, holding those “boys” at NASA in
check during moments that put her husband
in danger. A fantastic supporting cast, including
Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Christopher
Abbott and Corey Stoll, round out the film
by adding virtuoso performances.
Damien Chazelle has always been a man
of ambition. With First Man, his third major
release, he once again explores a young
man’s ambitions of greatness and the things
he sacrifices to achieve it. Chazelle naturally
brings the cinema of life to the big screen
with clear and incalculable vision. He is, after
all, the youngest person ever to win the Best
Director Oscar (for last year’s La La Land).
To this end, perhaps First Man’s overall
effect would be even more impressionable
if seen in IMAX. In this setting, the 16mm
film transforms into IMAX during the moon
sequences, which Chazelle states that was
intended to be his “Wizard of Oz moment.”
At the end of the day, audiences will either
cherish First Man for offering a contemplative
inward journey or feel that it held itself too
restrained. Overall, I would have liked to feel
as if Armstrong was a little more awestruck.
But even if this was intentionally absent in
order to faithfully show his brilliance as
an engineer and devoted father whose still
waters ran deep, First Man is nonetheless a
fantastic work of art and dutiful historical
document that no doubt furthers Chazelle’s,
Gosling’s, and the rest of the creative company’s
artistry, as well as adds to the story
of Armstrong and those who dare to find
themselves amongst the stars.
141 min. First Man is rated PG-13 for
some thematic content involving peril, and
brief strong language. Now playing. •
First Man, Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Ryan Rojas.
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