A fine balance between the epic and the intimate

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2018)

A deftly riveting film by wunderkind Damien Chazelle, First Man retells the story of NASA's first successful lunar landing mission in a way that is both epic in its scale, yet intimate in its focus. The sequences inside the space capsule are surprisingly immersive, with every thud and shudder feeling of viscerally well-earned. Gosling is perfectly cast as the taciturn Armstrong, whose stoic demeanour belies a familial tragedy that plunges him and his wife into a black hope of grief. A dizzying technical achievement. And once you land on that big rock in the sky, you'll truly be left breathless.