Spoilers… is not the correct word… history is
One Small Step for Man One Giant leap for for Film kind.
Time to go on Mans greatest adventure & sit there & feel ridiculously small & insignificant. Get read to watch First Man & then just appreciate your life & those around you & just want to hug everyone.
Just the fact that in the 60s we even attempted to send people to space let alone the moon something weve not done now in all of my life time anyhow, is just amazing. I still sit there in awe whenever we send someone up to the space station, its fantastic. I mean Elon who build tesla is doing it, its madness but its so awe inspiring & really does make you put things into perspective.
Ryan Gosling who is a really good actor really earns his last couple of stripes to make him a fantastic actor in this film. At no point apart from at the start of the film when he turns up & when hes doing press so i actually think its Ryan. He incumbents Neil perfectly & get the drive & determination correct. The fact that he actually went in that spinning module was amazing. He didnt just want it going gently around him to get a face capture nah he went for it.
Clare Foy i always thinks looks miserable in her films & tv shows & only has one style of acting, & for this film as the concerned mother & wife it completely works & draw on that style & you sit there with her listening to the radio & with the grief of the other wives & you resonate with her & feel for her.
Her most powerful moment of the film is when Neil is about to leave & she forces him to have that conversation with the kids that he may not come home & it might fail. Thats proper emotion & suddenly making Neil human when hes been focused & determined throughout. Its one of the best parts of the film… but its not the best.
Obviously when they get to the moon thats the moment but it isnt even that & the fact that they land it & the fact that he says the line. No its when hes off & his visor is down & it spins around the silent dusty moon scape & gets to the earth & it seems so far away & so small & then it spins back to him. That is stunning cinematography & is one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema. & that always makes me appreciate what i have & what a small little spec i am & how i should be grateful for what i have. & i cry. i mean after that comes the bracelet for his daughter on the moon which noone actually knows is real or dramatic licence which then also makes you cry as you already are. I just remember being in the cinema watching this whole part with my dad & i just remember reaching for his hand & him grasping it really tight & slightly glancing at him & through my steamed up water glasses could see that he was also crying. He was feeling the same too & when it ended & we just sat at the cinema for a bit he went well i wasnt expecting to get that emotional.
i thought i knew about the first Apollo mission but i always thought it had taken off & that they didnt all just die on land. So when they got in & werent even taking off i was like oh shit. I was angry at myself for not knowing that. That hurt too. But then i like that in a few scenes later Buzz is going well were all now thinking whos going to the moon just no ones going to admit it. I loved that. They had to get over it to refocus & get there mind back on the moon.
I will never forgive Kyle Chandler for (spoilers) killing Ben Mendelsohn in Bloodline, but i will trust him to send Neil to the moon, how does that work in my head im not sure. But hes just as determined as the rest of them & hes trying to do everything in his power to keep everyone in the world just calm about it all & that it will be fine. That is good acting, that a man i usually cant forgive for one acting performance i then trust entirely in another.
The chalk boards showing how far away the moon was is a brilliant way to show how far away it is. & then its just added on.
I love how every single thing is just so 60’s even the way some of the bits in the little town are filmed almost at time feel a little grainy & washed out like watching a tv show now in hd from the 60s it just patches a bit & looks brilliant for the period.
There are lots of moments of just silence in this film, usually when it happens in film its to show beauty & landscapes & okay on the moon that is the case (but they are on the moon where there is no noise), but when its silent the rest of the time its to show the drive & focus they all have & i love that. & then when the dramatic music hits it really hits & its beautifully composed.
Its just a really powerful & beautiful film about real life which really delivers an honest real life mission that no one thought was possible & documents one of the greatest moment for man kind. No one get the tone wrong. & it really does make you put your life into perspective…
& that would normally be my sign off but it isnt. This week Michael Collins died aged 90 of cancer. Michael was the 3rd man on the trip to the moon who waited for them to come back to fly them home. We are now left with Buzz from those three. God bless you Michael & thank you for your part in the epic adventure. Go say hi to Neil & tell him the human race is going back to the moon soon.