Tag: first man

directed by Damien Chazelle

Watching today’s film was a real nightmare for me. Honestly, I haven’t felt that frustrated in a long time. Why? Because one of the most talented directors of our times, Damien Chazelle, disappointed me a lot. How could the same man be responsible for “Whiplash” and “La La Land”, two absolutely marvellous productions, and then… this giant leap back happens. Still, I’m blaming the screenplay the most, because for me it was really ill-considered. But if you’re still not sure what story I’m talking about, let me explain. We follow one of the most recognisable people in the world, Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling), and no, he’s not that musician. He’s the one who is said to be the first man on the Moon. The film presents his first steps in NASA, his family, his private life and generally the way to that spectacular event. And I really hoped for an equally spectacular film about him, because if he really got to the Moon (I know not everybody believes in that, so I’m playing it safe here, no judgement), then he deserves a fantastic tribute. And what do we get? Horribly boring drama. I swear, if that wasn’t made by Chazelle, if Gosling didn’t play Armstrong and if I ignored the fantastic special effects (and sound, sound is awesome in here), then I would turn this film off after an hour. I know it was based on the book about Armstrong and I know they wanted to show how human this man was, that he had his own problems and not everything was easy for him. I get it. But you know how I see Armstrong after this film? As a boring man without a personality, with a really annoying wife, who ended up on the Moon like if he went bowling for the first time, but realised he doesn’t like bowling so he’s waiting for his friends to finish playing. Americans, no matter if Moon landing was real or not, Armstrong is your national hero and you should promote him in the best way possible. But actually, the person responsible for the screenplay was Josh Singer, whose work is not my favourite to be honest and I dislike almost every screenplay he wrote (except “Spotlight”). I’m sorry Mr. Singer, but at least you got an Oscar, so good for you. I really think this story should be written by someone else and Chazelle should get another chance to direct, because, damn, this man is talented! Still, it’s not a bad film, it’s probably a good one, but I had high expectations, so you have to forgive me. And my one last thought *SPOILER* Why couldn’t they finish the film with the shot on the Moon? It was marvellous, him standing there, in complete silence, looking around, BAM, black screen, film finished. No… he had to do the very deep hands-through-the-glass touching with his wife. If they deleted that ending, I would honestly give +1. Meh.

My rating: 6/10
S.