‘Blu-ray or Bust’ - FIRST MAN

‘Blu-ray or Bust’

FIRST MAN (2018, PG-13, 141 minutes, DREAMWORKS/UNIVERSAL PICTURES)

If you haven’t been paying attention to director Damien Chazelle, you might want to start now.

His 2014 debut, WHIPLASH, was a tour de force, a film that used sound as a weapon and J.K. Simmons as its delivery system. The film perfectly blended the violence of making coherent sound with an Oscar winning, abusive performance by Simmons. He followed that up with 2016’s Oscar winning LA LA LAND—this time using sound to propel the story and to develop the budding relationship between two L.A. devotees.

Now he takes us to space with FIRST MAN, once again allowing Ryan Gosling to lead us there. Gosling plays Neil Armstrong, the first man to have ever stepped foot on the moon. And the surprising thing is that Armstrong’s lack of sound—not a great communicator, Neil—tells just as much story, if not more, than blaring alarms in a space capsule ever could.

Gosling, who also starred in LA LA, gives a thoughtful and thought-provoking performance as the astronaut that carried the hopes and dreams of Americans, let alone every human being on the planet, to the moon and back. Without giving any spoilers, tragedy visits Neil’s family early. This lends credence to his shyness/reserve, and Mr. Gosling does an amazing job of carrying the silence; it is a palpable burden, one which affects those around him dramatically.

There are several good performances here: Jason Clarke as best friend and fellow astronaut Ed White, and Corey Stoll as an outspoken Buzz Aldrin, are most notable as they come across as the most relatable. But when Mr. Gosling isn’t stealing your attention, the amazing Claire Foy as Armstrong’s wife Janet is more than happy to ground things. Her performance feels the most honest; left at home to care for their two sons, she is the force which tries desperately to keep Armstrong’s dreams cemented here, on Earth, with his family.

Yet after all this, it is Mr. Chazelle’s directorial efforts and production designer Nathan Crowley who combine to make the definitive unseen character which drives this film. For films based on real life, stories whose endings you already know (ARGO, DARKEST HOUR, etc.), it can be difficult to convey a tale which keeps you invested in that inevitable outcome. But the best (like those aforementioned Oscar winners) keep you glued to your seats, and Misters Chazelle and Crowley pull that off masterfully. From the cockpit of a plane to the inside of the lunar module, you experience everything alongside the astronauts. The dynamic cinematography by Linus Sandgren—who makes a seamless transition from LA LA LAND—creates close quarter tension one moment, and eases you back in your seat with the grand spectacle of the wide open lunar landscape the next. All this amounts to a journey that feels as turbulent and exhilarating as what the astronauts must have went through, only you don’t have to leave the planet (or your living room) to experience it.

The special features are entirely necessary; from the use of LED wall-effects to more backstory on Armstrong, you get a little bit of everything. My only complaint is that most of the docs are far too short, and some lack what you really want to hear about. It isn’t enough for me to tell you to skip any of them, but I felt that there were certain elements lacking, as if the studio didn’t have enough time to put together a proper fifteen-minute-long “making of” doc.

While none of the people I mentioned in this review are nominated for the upcoming Academy Awards (which is a shame in several cases), you know what was? The sound editing and mixing by Ai-Ling Lee and Co. Which just goes to show you how effectively Mr. Chazelle uses sound in each of his films. It isn’t just his eyes that map the course of our cinematic journey, but also his ears—and that, kids, is the mark of a truly effective storyteller.

Film Grade: A

Special Features: B-

Blu-ray Necessary: Absolutely

- T.S.Kummelman