REVIEWING “FIRST MAN”: THE MAN WHO STEPPED ON THE MOON

FELIPE NÚÑEZ SÁNCHEZ

Title: “First Man”

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler

Written by: Josh Singer and James Hansen

Music by: Justin Hurwitz

Renowned Damien Chazelle decides to leave the world of music for the first time in his
new work. After the success of 'Whisplash' and 'La La Land', two films focused on a
musical environment, Chazelle has decided to explore the space with 'First Man', a film
focused on the figure of American astronaut Neil Amstrong, played by Ryan Gosling. It
may seem that it does not fit with what the American director has done before, but deep
down Chazelle takes advantage of the big screen, once again, to recycle the idea of
suffering as a way to the transcendence that underlay his previous works. The triad of
loneliness, ambition and success is a perennial resource in Chazelle's films, only this time
these ideas take off from the earth towards the highest, towards the moon.
The stories of space travel have always fascinated the public and the moon has always
fascinated the human being. On July 20, 1969, man landed on the Earth's natural satellite,
marking a new era for the spatial history of humanity. The mission was Apollo 11 and
was commanded by astronaut Neil Armstrong who became the first human being to walk
on another star. But who was Armstrong? How did he become the first man on the moon?
That's what this movie is about. Chazelle goes back 7 years before the Apollo 11 mission
and shows the life of Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) before being chosen to command the trip
to the moon. He appears as a man disciplined, family and above all loving with his little
daughter, who dies from an illness. This leaves Armstrong marked, plunging him into a
duel he can not recover from.
Thus, trying to bury that bitter memory focuses on his dream of belonging to the Apollo
project to reach the moon, leaving his family aside and neglecting the relationship with
his other children. We find an Armstrong passionate about flying, dedicated, cold and
thoughtful, expressionless - a role that Ryan Gosling knows how to interpret well (Drive
2012) -. Chazelle does not canonize the character, but also shows their shadows, from
their habitual absence in the family home to their almost sickly introspection.
Those responsible for adapting this story have been Nicole Perlman ('Guardians of the
Galaxy') and the office film expert John Singer ('Spotlight'), who has based his script on
the book of the same name by the historian James R. Hansen (2005 ). His script does not
deal with the process at NASA to face the challenge of reaching the moon, but the
emotional and psychological journey of the protagonist during the adventure. That is to
say, First man is not simply the narration of a historical human feat, but the piece of the
life of a man who assumed without hesitation, but with some bitterness, the role that he
played in it with his own internal drama on his shoulders. And this is the essential
difference of the film with the previous ones that had tackled real space adventures.

One of the best things that Chazelle's film leaves us is how much importance it gives to
the process. We already know how the story ends. We already know what will happen,
and that it will go well. History has already made us the spoiler before we started, and
that's why it was so important to impregnate the whole film with tension and realism that
could fill the absence of mystery. Each trip that goes through the atmosphere is an almost
physical experience, with the camera in a state of absolute uncontrol and sound drilling
into our ears. Almost as if we were inside Armstrong's helmet. Also classical music, with
the air of waltz, making the spaceships dance as Kubrick did in 2001: An Odyssey in
space.
First Man leaves us some memorable moments, like when Armstrong says: "We have to
make mistakes down here so as not to make mistakes up there", to justify an accident that
almost cost him his life. Or the sequence in which the older son of the Armstrong cares
for his mother, asking what's wrong and she responds with a: "Nothing baby, your father
goes to the moon." But among all the scenes we can stay with the impressive final landing,
full of silence and solemnity. Great moments that give a bit of rhythm to a long film that
focuses a lot on the scientific (the art direction is amazing), which forgets unnecessary
patriotism ("I have always considered it an achievement of humanity, not of America",
Chazelle has said in Venice) and uses flashback to introduce us into the psyche of a
protagonist who is torn between trauma and heroism.
Although, for heroic acts, that of the second great protagonist in the shade: Claire Foy,
who plays the wife of Armstrong. She represents what is hidden behind the big name.
The dialogue between the professional and the personal, the public and the private, the
universal and the intimate, is constant in First Man, because for Chazelle both are equally
important, as he makes clear in that final scene through the glass. Two worlds, a balance.
Only one is recognized by the history books and the other is not.
The negative point of the narration could be found in the duration of the film. There is a
moment after the two hours of footage in which the less patient viewer can take the
(wrong) feeling that the film is finally over. And this is a film of two hours and twenty
that could have been much better in an hour and a half.

In the technical aspect presents a good picture, environments, recreations of events very
well achieved. The staging is highlighted in the spatial scenes, where he can compose the
images that we most associate with his cinema. Spectacular plans, an enveloping sound
design, and an elaborate assembly will compensate the two hours of waiting that give way
to the short, but spectacular, space travel. The contribution in that sense is very good, the
film maintains an excellent form. Even Chazelle talked about how important it was to
minimize the use of CGI (Computer-generated imagery) resources and film the great part
of the film realistically, with scale models and other technical aspects, even in the
sequences on the moon. Although the greatest aesthetic peculiarity of First Man is its
darkness. The curtains are always closed and we have the feeling all the time that it would
be necessary to light one or two more lights.
To relate this historical and family drama, Chazelle opts for an affected style and at times
excessive. As with the first very close-up continuous shots with which he portrays his
protagonists; the prevalence of Gosling's head often covered by a helmet on which the
reflections of what he is seeing can be guessed; or the texture with which the film is
photographed, which almost seems to want to simulate the characteristic grain of the
video graphics images of the sixties.
What Singer and Chazelle tried to do here was not a complete biography but, rather, the
characterization of a man as they are all: complex, incongruous and fragmentary. This
decision affects, even, the cinematographic language of the tape. Because Chazelle and
his team decided to film the film in three different formats, where each type of format
corresponds to a layer of the story: the most intimate was filmed in 16mm as a distant
memory of the family films of the time; the relative to terrestrial historical places (like
the scenes in the NASA) was filmed using 35mm; and the historical, spatial scenes were
filmed in a plethoric 70mm format. Although in the end all these formats were adapted to
enter an IMAX projection.
The chronological fragmentation, the fragmentation in the format and the fragmentation
in the script come together to give us a deeply subjective vision of Neil Armstrong. A
portrait of the astronaut who does not hide Chazelle's hand. In this sense, we also see the
subtle and intriguing original music of Justin Hurwitz, the musical collaborator closest to
the director. With the same elements of guitar chords, slow piano, and a discrete theremin,
Hurwitz retakes the feeling of the melancholy of La La Land songs to print, again, the
Chazelle label in the film. And if the collaboration with Hurwitz and the return of Gosling
do not seem enough, the whole film is a repetition of the themes that have always
intrigued the director.

That's why we recognize Chazelle more in First Man than Armstrong. This is a film that,
like everything that Chazelle has done, revolves around certain obsessions: the
impossibility of life as a couple, the unique madness, the de-romanticization of talent, the
apology for effort, the life of social misfits, social anguish, shyness, exceptionality,
loneliness. And in that precise blend of the director's obsessions with the true story of an
iconic character, First Man creates a unique portrait in Hollywood. A portrait that does
not need historical context, that does not abuse the epic narrative facilities, does not seek
to explain a character in a simple way.
What makes First Man such a successful film is that it explores both man and the
possibilities of approaching him. And, thus, it becomes one of the most reflective biopics
in the arid wasteland of a Hollywood more and more repetitive. Chazelle achieves a
magnificent contrast by telling a story as epic as the space race and the arrival of the
human being to the moon from a cold narrative about the loss and humanity that resides
in this hero.