First Man - The first man is the fourth film of Damien Chazelle, the young director born in 1985, as well as the youngest awarded with theBest Director Oscar at the age of 32, one month and 7 days. It was in 2017 for La La Land and the expectations for this new feature film could only be very high. First Man does not tell theApollo 11, the mission that on July 20, 1969 brought man to the moon for the first time, but the life of Neil Armstrong, the world-famous astronaut who took the first step. A historic 141-minute film produced by, among others Steven Spielberg.
A small step for man, a great step for humanity
Who does not know this sentence? The one Armstrong uttered after he got off the lunar module and started his walk. A man told in depth, in the family context and in the working context. Very experienced pilot, test driver, a father deeply tried by the death of his daughter. So tried to make him sometimes absent and unreachable from his family. The stress for perhaps the most dangerous job in the world, for the responsibilities on his shoulders, for the risk of having a fatal accident. The continuing pains of the losses of his colleagues that continued to add up incessantly. The need to reach the moon, but the knowledge that he could lose his life on a mission.
First Man is different from the others
First Man is a difficult task. It has to tell one of the most complex and important lives in the history of man, but it cannot be traced back to other films like Apollo 13 is I, Gravity and so on. He has to find a different language to interest the public and Damien Chazelle has had the stroke of genius. Thus, the narration of what looks like a traditional film almost becomes that of the amateur videos of the time. A little drama, a little documentary and a little traditional film, First Man flows with pleasure to the end, finding an excellent balance of weights in the script between lively scenes, action and scenes focused more on introspection and dialogue. The viewer is never bored, especially if he manages to be completely carried away by the characters, which is certainly facilitated by the work of the actors. Ryan Gosling in the part of Armstrong e Claire Foy in that of his wife Janet, they are the protagonists who help put the bow on a script that is already well packaged. Let's add scenography perfect, in fact nominated for an Oscar, the righteous costumes, and there we are!
Of course, you have to get used to some directorial choices that you might not like, but which mostly concerns photography. We are talking about a very hectic way of framing. The camera is almost always by hand, but with a movement that can sometimes be exaggerated and that could be annoying at the cinema. No problem for the action scenes, because there it would be normal and also the only possible choice, but in the static ones - of dialogue or quiet scenes - it could be annoying. All the zooms that they might remember have also been added The Office o Modern Family. Ok, they serve to remind us of the point of view, which must be different from the usual, must be amateur, but are we sure that it is the most functional choice?
The editing is more classic, entrusted to Tom Cross, award Oscar for best editing in 2015 for Whiplash and it is well executed. The sound deserves a separate mention, as it has a very important quality. Here there are both Oscar nominations and al best sound editing that the sonoro. It is all right. Every little sound is placed there, perfectly. The sequences of flights and maneuvers in space thus manage to become anxious and at times disturbing. The use of silences is also intelligent, and particularly that of the dialogues of the original characters in the highlights of the moon landing. There colonna sonora and of Justin Hurwitz, which had already set to music won both the Oscars at the best soundtrack that for the best song for La La Land. Many passages, most of them short, accompany the film. It is essentially based on two or three musical movements that generate the basic themes, repeated several times but with variations, throughout the film. In some ways repetitive, in reality it is very adequate to leave a further trace to the viewer. In no time at all, First Man's music stays in the lead, you also get attached to it. For some music lovers, surely, he won't leave even after the credits. The song The Landing it is a gem and sums up all the characteristics of the soundtrack in general.
First Man wins theOscar for the best special effects with merit. We're not talking about absurd superhero movie scenes, amazing three-dimensional graphic animations, but what we once recognized as visual effects, those for which the use of the computer is a support, but not a primary necessity. The sequences in space are perfect, the moon landing could be a historical video shot and remastered.
Finally, a good film, convincing, but not a masterpiece. Some choice that might seem as right to some as it is wrong to others, but it makes sense to exist. Worth seeing because it entertains, but also because it informs very faithfully. The conspiracy theorists of the conquest of the moon will not like it.
