My guilty pain of the year

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2018)

I don't know if it is an official term, but since "a work of art beloved by the observer but disliked by the masses" is called a "guilty pleasure", I propose the word "guilty pain" for the opposite: a movie praised by people in general, but perceived as overrated by me. First Man is an unfortunate example of this: I love biopics and movies about space exploration, and I went in with reasonable expectations (I think), but despite finding some positive elements in it, I already know it is not going to make my Best Of 2018 list.
I liked Damien Chazelle's previous movies, but I also think that all the Oscar-praise and IMDb Top 250 listings that were heaped upon them were way too much credit. Whiplash was a solid piece of breakthrough filmmaking, but it will be primarily remembered for the stellar role of J.K. Simmons and his interaction with Miles Teller, rather than a timeless piece of storytelling. Entire volumes and SNL sketches have been written about La La Land and how a group of its hardcore fans (let's call them Academy voters) made it one of the most successfully overhyped movies of all time. First Man is actually the film that makes me doubt Chazelle's status as wunderkind the most. Whiplash and La La Land, relatively overrated as they were, at least moved and entertained me, whereas First Man failed to actually engage me most of the time.
At its best, FM is a fascinating history lesson about a nation's decade-long ambition to reach the Moon, and the willingness of a group of men (and one man in particular) to risk their lives in pursuit of fullfilling this dream. The film accurately shows the bold choices and sacrifices that these men made, going into a project that succeeded with equal amounts of craftmanship and blind luck. It also shows the human folly of spending (or wasting) resources and human lives out of a desire to beat their competitors. The movie isn't afraid to suggest at times that personal ego was a significant factor in the drive of some of the men, and it takes care not to slavishly portray its protagonists as heroes or saints. As a documentary, FM would have done an accurate job.
However, as a drama, it falls short in several areas. One of them, sadly, is in the choice of its main subject. I have been told that the real Neil Armstrong was notoriously introverted, modest and media-shy, and the devestating loss of a child made him a tragic figure. Although Ryan Gosling accurately portrays him as such, this doesn't help from a storytelling point of view. We simply don't get to understand how this man thinks and why he does what he does. The way that he talks to his sons about the possibility of him not returning alive like he is giving a press conference suggests to me that he had real difficulties in connecting with people. As a consequence, the movie struggles to convey why his character would put himself and his family through such insecurities, given the absence of any noticeable enthusiasm in him. Some will undoubtedly say that this enigmatic man is a mystery best left intact, and part of the appeal of the movie, but I find that the film's inability to get under his skin seriously hampers my ability to identify with him.
My second point of contention is director Chazelle's confined view on the subject. His restraint in re-enacting the events as unsensational as possible is commendable in principle. Stories like this do not necessarily need emotional embellishments, endless character analyses or bombastic enhancements to strike a chord with the audience. Keeping the story focussed on its characters with subtle music is an artistic choice that could have worked. However, in this film, it mostly amounts to a dry presentation of facts that lack a subjective feeling to it. Chazelle keeps the camera locked tight on his actors and inside the shuttles most of the time, and rarely ventures outside that narrow view. Even in the tense scenes, we experience plenty of discomforts and fears of spaceflight, but hardly any of the marvel that I assume makes astronauts want to go into space in the first place. Movies like Apollo 13 and Everest also dealt with people who risk their lives, but it also showed or explained their motivations and euphoria that made you understand and sympathize with them. What I miss is the childlike sense of wonder that would suit a movie about space exploration, which is very strange for a movie that has Steven Spielberg credited as a producer.
The movie has assembled a fine cast, including Gosling, Jason Clarke and Claire Foy. Even the fact that some good actors (like CiarÃ¡n Hinds) have only very small parts isn't a problem. However, as stated above, I find it problematic that the film only incidentally succeeds in explaining what drives these characters. Certain scenes are even puzzling in their lack of purpose (like the final shot). It almost seems as if the makers tried to suggest more character depth by copious use of extreme close-ups, coupled with a constantly moving camera. I don't mind a few close-ups or a bit of shaky-cam at all, but when I start to notice it repeatedly (especially in quiet dialogue scenes) it becomes an annoying style trick. Some have praised the photography for its accurate 60s look, and I concur with that, but shaky-cam for the sake of shaky-cam kind of defeats its purpose.
In all fairness, every now and then, Chazelle succeeds in getting the message accross. Claire Foy gets away with some of the best scenes as the more emotional counterpart of Neil. The dramatic beginning bridges nicely with the cinematic finale; both are quite effective without becoming overly sentimental, and convey the emotional weight of the events, as well as give us some insight into the characters. But there is still a large chunk of a 141-minute movie getting close to boredom by failing to engage me in its narrative or characters. I hear Oscar buzz all around, and I am fine with any of the actors winning it. But not the picture, not the director, and certainly not the photography. The movie has the elements, but it lacks the passion for its subject.