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A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
The film “First Man” is the story of Neil Armstrong and how he came to be the first to step foot on the moon. Ryan Gosling, who plays Armstrong, completely embodies the peculiarities of the quiet engineer with grit and determination, the brokenhearted father silently grieving the loss of his little girl and the polite pioneering spirit of flight as a true Ohioan. Right down to the closed emotional affect of the mid-twentieth century, man, as well as the emanation of the conviction and purposefulness with which American society made significant strides for mankind, Ryan Gosling demonstrates a serious aptitude for the somber role of a subtly complicated character.
However, what is truly worth your attention is the impressive work of Damien Chazelle, director and producer of “First Man.” You might be familiar with his 2016 work, “La La Land,” which, according to IMDb, received critical and commercial acclaim, winning all seven of its Golden Globe nominations, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. In fact, Chazelle became the youngest person in history to win an Oscar for Best Director at the age of 32. Interestingly enough, the Hollywood Reporter gives the tidbit that Gosling and Chazelle initially met to discuss the future work of “First Man,” but ended up talking musicals all night which eventually resulted in Gosling with the lead role as a jazz pianist in “La La Land” even before “First Man” was slated for production.
Justin Hurwitz, the composer of “La La Land,” also returns for a well-deserved encore in “First Man.” Hurwitz composes nearly all of the songs, but mixed in is Harry Revel’s “Lunar Rhapsody” recorded in 1947 along with Gil Scott-Heron’s “Whitey on the Moon” performed by Leon Bridges. Hurwitz’s work speaks for itself, but not just in heart-pounding tempos and soaring orchestral pieces, but because he dares to contrast the romanticism and the criticism of what it took to reach the moon.
Meanwhile, cinematographer Linus Sandgren keeps your eyes riveted to the screen with powerful camera work displaying the realism, the fear, the loss, and the commitment of everything it took to land on the moon. Not surprisingly, Sandgren was also instrumental in the success of “La La Land.” Simply put, Chazelle, Gosling, Hurwitz, and Sandgren go above and beyond in an exquisite telling of this one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
In theaters Friday, October 12th
