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It's probably going to get snubbed at the Oscars, given the audience ignorance and the politics the Academy has set in recent years, but for me, this is the Movie Of The Year. A technically extremely precise piece of work and at the same time an emotional ride that gives you goosebumps in the last act. In fact, I can't remember the last time a film with a scientific basis has grounded me like this. Perhaps Zemeckis's Contact, twenty long years ago. Gosling as a man who has to suppress his emotions and think coldly and rationally, otherwise he couldn't do his job, is totally accurate as an actor. At the other pole, Claire Foy is a geyser of emotion, and Hurwitz's music is energetic and intimate at the same time. This is going to be the pride of my blu-ray collection. PS: Unfortunately, there are mental gimps among us, such as the "greatest horror expert" Psychor, who vulgarly disparage human agency bought with sweat and blood. I don't know, couldn't these individuals just die so they don't poison our air? (15.12.2018)

What comes to mind is of course a comparison with Interstellar, Gravity or, God forbid (the premise!) Apollo 11. In the first two instances, the similarities are visual while in the third case they relate to the plot. However, The First Man is still a unique film, by which Damien Chazelle managed to blow the minds of everyone who were looking forward to a typical action flick with everything it entails. Because The First Man is everything but an action flick, even though it is full of suspense. My only regret is that this film is too long. Certain dialogues could’ve used some cutting. I however liked looking at Neil Armstrong with his own eyes. Naturally the most visually compelling part of the film is its second half that beautifully shows Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. It almost makes you think that the director and cameraman actually landed on the Moon again to take these breathtaking shots. I can imagine that watching this in a cinema must be absolutely fantastic. Ryan Gosling is of course a great choice. I didn’t think he would come unprepared for his role of Neil Armstrong. Moreover, the political debates revolving around NASA were a welcome bonus. (16.10.2019)

Damien Chazelle is one of the most interesting young filmmakers of our time, and I don't know if Whiplash or La La Land is better. Anyway, with these two films he has shown that he is not going to be stuck in one single genre, so I was looking forward to the Neil Armstrong biopic and the story of the conquest of the moon. In part, I got exactly what I expected and wanted: a technically perfect film that suits the IMAX big screen, has great cinematography and a sound design that makes you feel scared during the Apollo 11 launch like a regular horror movie. It's great to watch, but Chazelle tries to tell perhaps too many things surrounding the event, and there are just too many stories of pilots, engineers and families. So much so that a lot of them fizzle out and don't lead anywhere substantial plot-wise, or have as much emotional impact as they might have wanted. Overall, though, this is still a must-see film, and preferably in the best and biggest theater possible. There, First Man can be compared to Gravity or Interstellar, at least technically. (04.10.2018)

A monthly Elegy. A film that is much more about fatherhood than space exploration. After all, it is just a place where our thin and frail shells throw away their sadness and anxiety. Nothing took me apart this year like First Man. A virtuoso mosaic of sharp, detailed, claustrophobic fragments in super 16 and IMAX width, which perfectly flushed out my sensory receptors. Gosling can channel melancholy with his eyes, and Claire Foy's performance is stronger than gravity. This is what Interstellar was supposed to be. For me, this the greatest film experience of 2018 and the perfect reparation for La La Land. (20.10.2018)

Cold, depersonalized, grimy, cramped, sad, claustrophobic. The landing, thanks to the editing and Hurwitz, is the adrenaline rush scene of the year, the only downright shame is the redundant and literal "after the return" passages. (16.10.2018)

I was a bit skeptical, but this is a film that should be seen and as a result I am pleasantly surprised. This is my first film experience with Damien Chazelle, his work hasn't interested me much so far, but he's getting my attention with this film. First Man is an engaging biopic of Neil Armstrong and it was very nice to see how everything works behind the scenes in this one. Ryan Gosling is excellent as always and the trip to the moon is nicely paced and suspenseful. I wasn't downright bored despite the slower pace, but if I had to choose from recent great sci-fi to watch again, I'd probably prefer The Martian and Interstellar. Decent. 75%. (15.01.2019)

At first glance, this is an odyssey bordering on a thriller: stark, direct, and overwhelming, where I honestly don't understand how the same Damien Chazelle who beautifully dreamed and overflowed with romantic ideas in La La Land is now sitting in the director's chair. In the narrative establishing shot, there is a pure insight into a man's painful soul, at first just wandering, then palpable, then ultimately irreversible – and that is such a force in a silent moonlit landscape that it outshines even the formally perfect aerial sequences. Ryan Gosling's unfathomable gaze into emptiness hasn't been such a good fit in a long time. (30.10.2018)

First Man is an enthralling evocation of the time when spaceflight was not a matter of course and undertaken at the whim of millionaires, but rather an uncertain enterprise that required sacrifice and tremendous determination. At the same time, it is a perfect example of how to build an absorbing and thrilling narrative from a story whose end everyone already knows. (15.01.2019)

A realistic biographical drama with emphasis on what must be sacrificed in the interest of science. In terms of style, it’s a cross between Interstellar and The Tree of Life. Gosling’s is excellent as Armstrong, an intelligent guy who can look after himself, although with dulled feelings after of all the death (his farewell with his kids using sentences intended for a press conference is a good example). During the ending, Chazelle does not stoop to giving us a climax with great pathos, where the hero and his friends achieve the goal, simply because most of his companions have been killed. The shots from the Moon are duly impressive and the effect is exquisite. Primarily, they aren’t spoiled by any flag planting. Beautiful music. Excellent. I see the Moon, the Moon sees me... (17.10.2018)

What a surprise by Chazelle! Distinctive, cool, gritty, exquisite. An incredibly plausible reconstruction of one of the key events (not only) of the 1960s, where, apart from the journey to the moon itself, there is also a brilliant depiction of the society and family values of that time. Without pathos, without heroism, and with the depressing clacks and creaks of space rocket interiors. (21.10.2018)

I haven't seen Whiplash, I didn't enjoy the cheesy La La Land, but I'm unreservedly excited about First Man. Captivating aerial scenes of all kinds (you feel like you are sitting there with him/them) interspersed with no less dramatic scenes from that “ordinary family life," Ryan Gosling once again acts well and I believed his character. At the same time, the script is not a classic biographical affair which, when watching it, the viewer just in spirit ticks off items and gets to the limit of kitsch only in the end (the bracelet), but it balances it, doesn't fall, and doesn’t hurt itself. I also enjoy being able to praise the music once again. Justin Hurwitz is playing the theremin, accompanying the scene with Gemini with a waltz and peaking as dramatically as if Hans Zimmer had collaborated with Philip Glass. I'm very much looking forward to the soundtrack. (11.10.2018)

It’s really nice to see that a star-studded, studio Oscar-bait movie can be delivered without gratuitous emotions, and that it relies solely on the actors, formal precision and brilliant directing skills. First Man is an emotional drama about an individual who had to look ahead despite the unfavourable odds and in the end took the biggest step in the history of mankind. The story is simple and built on a series of moral clichés, but it’s also distinctive and wholesome thanks to its intimate subjective communicativeness (don’t expect any celebratory patriotic choruses during the key scenes). And yet, I still see unfulfilled potential. Portraying Armstrong as a machine who only cries once and keeps the same expression for the rest of the film is not the most fortunate choice (and Gosling’s traditionally minimalist acting style underscores it), and the script leans too much on the less interesting family aspects at the expense of Armstrong’s relationship with the other astronauts – this film could have been a wonderful epitaph to the loss of loved ones in order to fulfil a dream or the fate of an individual that surpasses the goal, if it had refrained from straddling between the personal, political and purely perceptive spheres and declaiming its greed so formally. As it is, it’s “only” an interestingly made biopic with great sound and a cosmic scope that perhaps plays a lesser role than you might expect (which is not bad). (10.10.2018)

After watching Whiplash and La La Land, I didn't feel the contemplate whether I actually liked it or whether I had just happened to get swept up in the general hype. Both films are five-star affairs for me; Whiplash rocked me emotionally enough in its time. First Man is a completely different cup of tea. First the positives: it's got at least three very intense and climactic moments (the first shuttle launch, the spinning in space, and a stunningly wide shot with evocative music moments before the final landing – in Dolby Atmos, it was just top-notch), and you can barely smell the over-the-top patriotism – at least as compared to similarly themed films. The problem, however, is that First Man doesn't really stand out at any point during its entire running time, a lot of things ring hollow, and Ryan Gosling's frugal acting certainly doesn't help this time around. Neil Armstrong undoubtedly had a strong desire to see the project through to the end – considering the human and other sacrifices it cost him. But you can hardly tell from Chazelle's film, because in this respect First Man is emotionally quite flat and unfortunately fails to convey to the viewer the passion for discovery or the immense drive to achieve something that has hitherto overshadowed humanity. Disappointment of the year. (18.10.2018)

This is perhaps the first movie about the achievements of the US space program I have seen that doesn't have frantic applause throughout the plot. Anyway, I personally am happy to applaud this time, if only because I wasn’t treated to any pathetic blathering and displays of nationalism, so typical of such productions. The whole thing is extremely down to earth, very believable and visually stunning. All this is underscored by ethereally beautiful music. I only have a slight reservation about the slightly over-long running time. (80%) (29.05.2022)

If there is a movie theme I have a soft spot for, it's the space race and space exploration in general. If you add either a bit of pure patriotism or the slightly naive belief in the perseverance of the human spirit, the rating goes up. A movie about the Apollo 11 mission could have been filmed in many ways, and I have zero objections to the style that Chazelle chose to portray the greatest success ever in the history of NASA. Nevertheless, I do have some reservations. It's technically brilliant, the soundtrack is great and it’s amazingly true-to-life and authentic, but I couldn’t help feeling like when watching Dunkirk. While it was perfectly made, it ultimately didn’t have the desired effect on me. I get the feeling that somebody in the editing room somehow misplaced 20 minutes of material from the second half of the movie which otherwise would have improved the overall impression. (03.02.2019)