The most tedious film I've seen in a while.

Rating: 6/10 (25 September 2019)

When a film is not engaging me, I try to look for elements that I can underscore in order to find something of interest, or something I can highlight.
For this film, I had a very hard time doing that, because I felt it offered very little. The story, while a good one, felt dragged out a bit. The acting was lacklustre. I like Ryan Gosling but he was expressionless throughout the whole film. I couldn't capture any sort of emotion through his performance. And since we get to experience everything through his eyes as he is the sole focus, it completely diminishes the film in regards to its overall quality, its narrative, its pace and its emotional impact on the viewers, which it's real close to being none.
The pace is too slow and unefficient, enough to make spectators repeatedly look at their watches, and so are the performances. They don't help at all. I'm sure we've all seen slow-paced films before but with such grand performances that could obviate that sense of tediousness.
I still think that La La Land is Chazelle's worst film, but First Man is second to that. He just wasn't able to recreate the success and unanimous praise he found with Whiplash.
If I'm giving this a 6 rating, it's because of its technical aspects, which to me is the only part of this film that truly stands out.