And while he has moments of lightness and joy with his sons Rick (Luke Winters) and Mark (Connor Blodgett), the work always seems to come first. Armstrong is shown as a warm, loving father, but Karen’s death shuts him down. Hansen’s biography of the same name - are really interested in the pressure these grand accomplishments place upon the families of those involved. While First Man is a fascinating look at NASA and the Gemini and Apollo programs, Chazelle and screenwriter Josh Singer - who adapted James R. The tensions come to a head as Armstrong prepares for Apollo 11, the mission that will eventually land him on the Moon. When three astronauts, including Ed White (Jason Clarke) and Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham), are killed in a fire during a test for the Apollo 1 mission, Janet becomes even more alarmed about the human cost of the program - a cost that Armstrong, still unable to grapple with losing his daughter, largely refuses to acknowledge. When team member and friend Elliot See (Patrick Fugit) is killed in a plane crash, Armstrong becomes withdrawn and non-communicative. The film is painstakingly detailed in covering all aspects of the NASA missions, but just as much time is spent on documenting Armstrong’s family and the emotional fallout over the years.

The film then follows Armstrong’s experience within the project, from his training and the early Gemini missions to the Apollo program and the larger mission to reach the Moon. After her death, in the hopes of making a fresh start, Armstrong applies to and is accepted into NASA’s Gemini program. Armstrong is an engineer by trade, analytical and data-oriented, and he seems to view Karen’s illness as an equation to be solved. Back on the ground, Armstrong and his wife Janet (Claire Foy) are worried about their young daughter Karen, who is suffering from a brain tumor. He’s able to resolve the situation, however, and lands safely. In the harrowing sequence, Armstrong is unable to descend, bouncing off the atmosphere until it seems like he’s in danger of floating off into space entirely. What’s it about?įirst Man opens in the early 1960s, with Armstrong working as an experimental test pilot, flying the rocket-powered X-15 to the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. It’s a space exploration biopic that documents Armstrong’s family life in equal measure with the numerous breakthroughs, mistakes, and tragedies NASA experienced over the course of the Gemini and Apollo missions. It’s an epic, ambitious film, but it ends just shy of true greatness. But for all its technical wonder, First Man’s focus on Armstrong’s relentless stoicism ends up feeling more like a hindrance than a revelation. It’s a breathtaking piece of filmmaking, filled with some of the most intense portrayals of spaceflight ever put onscreen. It’s a feat, the film stresses, pulled off not by larger-than-life figures, but by groups of ordinary people who each paid an incredible cost. Instead, it tells an incredibly small story - Armstrong’s struggle to cope with the death of his young daughter - and places it within the context of one of the most astonishing accomplishments in human history. The story of astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and the incredible effort it took to land him and Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) on the Moon in 1969, the film disposes with the heroic mythologizing that’s so regularly utilized in film portrayals of NASA and America’s space program. He uses that same tactic in his latest film, First Man. Chazelle likes to tackle genres and scenarios that we often view through rose-colored glasses, then smash those glasses to pieces.

La La Land, which earned Chazelle an Academy Award for Best Director, told the tale of two star-crossed lovers in the style of a nostalgic, classic Hollywood musical - only to deny the characters the storybook happy ending that both the characters and the audience were expecting. Whiplash is the story of an incredibly talented musician who realizes his potential, not due to feel-good monologues or platitudes about trying his best, but because he’s under the tutelage of a sociopathic teacher.

Over the course of a short but already notable career, director Damien Chazelle has shown a penchant for stripping away romanticized idealism to expose the more honest, human truths hidden underneath. It has been updated and reposted for the film’s October 12th wide theatrical release. This review comes from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Welcome to Cheat Sheet, our brief breakdown-style reviews of festival films, VR previews, and other special event releases.

Man on the moon movie documentary