Armstrong is
played by that most taciturn of actors, Ryan Gosling, and here the
silences, the 'meaningful' stares really work for him. A lot of the time
Chazelle chooses to shoot him in close-up and in Gosling's face we can
read everything the man is feeling. He is matched by the much more
pragmatic performance of Claire Foy as his wife. There is also not a jot
of sentimentality on display despite there being every opportunity to
milk it, (early on Armstrong's young daughter dies, several of his
colleagues are killed and then, of course, there is the triumphalism of
the ending). Instead Chazelle gives us a level-headed view of those
years, even going so far as to paint Buzz Aldrin as a somewhat vain
individual and including, at one stage, the protest number 'Whitney on
the Moon'. The quietude of the ending is also deeply affecting and if
Chazelle were to win his second Oscar for this I certainly won't be
complaining.
The films reviewed here represent those I have liked or loved over the years. It is not a list of my favourite films but all the films reviewed here are worth seeing and worth seeking out. I know many of you won't agree with me on a lot of these but hopefully you will grant me, and the films that appear here, our place in the sun. Thanks for reading.
Thursday, 18 October 2018
FIRST MAN
In the opening moments of Damien Chazelle's new movie "First Man" we
encounter Neil Armstrong on the periphery of space in a rocket that
isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing. It's a terrific scene,
genuinely frightening, (even if we know Mr Armstrong is going to come
out of it in one piece), shot up close and personal and superbly edited
and directed by young Chazelle, (he's the youngest person ever to win
the Oscar for Best Director). That's just the beginning of this
brilliant film about the Gemini and Apollo Missions that saw Neil
Armstrong become the first man to walk on the moon and there are several
other heart-stopping moments to follow. This is the most authentic
looking of all the manned space mission movies to date and Chazelle
films it as if it were a documentary, which isn't to say he ignores the
human side.
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