If you find a formula that works, why mess with it?
That philosophy applies to a lot of things in life, but also apparently to Oscar season.
We all know how that went.
Credit: Daniel McFadden/Universal Pictures
He won the Oscar for Best Picture well, for a couple of minutes at least.
This week, he decided to follow the same playbook with his technically dazzling Neil Armstrong biopicFirst Man.
That thumbnail may immediately bring to mind easy comparisons to, say, The Right StufforApollo 13.
ButFirst Manisnt quite like either of those films.
And it has moments of cosmic visual grandeur that rival Stanley Kubricks2001: A Space Odyssey.
Maybe the most enigmatic and mysterious true American hero this country has ever produced.
AndFirst Man, as great and enthralling as it is, never convincingly solves the mystery of Armstrong.
Its a sketch portrait of a cipher.
Still,First Mancouldnt arrive at a better time.
Armstrong and his fellow astronauts were high-test guinea pigs.
Chazelle captures with eerie adrenaline and dread just how dangerous these death-defying missions were.
Its amazing to witness how thin the line is between claustrophobic chaos and expansive serenity.
Especially after the death of his daughter Karen.
Hes more at peace in space than he ever seems to be on terra firma.
Youve never seen a movie that captures space flight with this degree of authenticity.
Its literally out of this world.
And Gosling lets you see past his fantastic performance into the characters humanity and humility into his soul.
Heres hoping these two keep working together for years to come.
It feels like the coda of a 70s New Hollywood film in a way.
