conventional in some ways, but its deep well of feeling and experimentation resonates

Rating: 8/10 (24 October 2018)

Who knew what the astronaut dramatization needed was the aesthetic from Saving Private Ryan? (Or Man of Steel came to mind too, and here it is far more effective viscerally and emotionally, and apt as it is, you know, real people who have lived and suffered and triumphed)
Every time Damien Chazelle and company have one of the space sequences, from the opening to the Gemini 8 sequence, to the horror of the Apollo 1 test, it occurred to me that this is less the Right Stuff and more a hardcore war movie: these men are as much soldiers as they are scientists, and so the feel of the thing makes sense. If you're facing death and have an acceptance of it (not to mention in Neil/Jane's case, after the worst has already happened), that should ask of the storyteller something more than locked-down cameras. This is to outer space what Black Swan is to dance - there's largely horror to what happens and, if we're lucky, some awe, though not so much.
This resonates and the filmmakers use a mix of 16mm and 35mm photography to achieve the kind of intimacy that could grow old fast, and we've seen this style before, but, what can I say except I responded to Chazelle and Lundgren's closeups, the way they would keep some shots steadier than others to keep the pace off our guard, Gosling channels convincingly how men of engineering (and men often were in general) from that generation, and it's Claire Foy's time to win like 700 awards for this performance.
This is the kind of Oscar bait Im happy to watch, and I'm anticipating this will get best picture for reason to do and not do with the film in and of itself (in a sense this would win because Right Stuff, which is greater and more artistically ambitious, lost). And, man, seeing this in IMAX really does make a difference and feels a part of the whole thing (and unlike Nolan and Dunkirk, it doesn't change at random moments, it's IMAX on the moon and that's it). It's a gripping tension between conventional (the script) and experimental/loose (Chazelle).
...I might've liked Buzz Aldrin to come off as more than just an a-hole though (and Lukas Haas gets the short shrift as Mike Collins, who is barely even named that out loud). 8.5/10