First Man is biopic about Neil Armstrong first and foremost. It includes the struggles amongst the way to the moon but it focuses on the struggles of a secluded man and the loss of his child. The film has a hard opening with Neil Armstrong (played by Ryan Gosling) bouncing off the atmosphere and finding his way back. This leads us into his life with a sick daughter and trying to make her better. Armstrong has notebooks full of ideas about how to help his daughter. But these ideas end fast. Neils daughter dies. The story isn’t one of complete triumph. The story focuses on a broken man going through our country’s greatest triumph.

The acting here is nothing but spectacular. Ryan Gosling shines as he always does and all his co-stars. The acting under director Damien Chazelle is nothing but superb. The cinematography he perfected in La La Land carries over making this a beautiful film.

        The film depicts space as not some beautiful colorful landscape but actually as a horrifying black void. The idea that these people could’ve been lost in space. The way the film depicts every accident in a horrifying way. Many accidents and deaths went into the flight to the moon. The way the deaths are shown are simplistic and well done. The film pays a large amount of respect for the dead.

          The film is notoriously 99% accurate to the events that actually played out and shows a lot of sides to the event. It shows the public uproar to how much tax dollars are going into a project that has only had death attached to it. The points of view create a more genuine experience than Apollo 11. The events are heartfelt and show the mindset of the country at the time. There were massive issues at the time and the country wanted an answer to those.

            There is nothing bad about this film. I can’t make a single complaint for the film is made by an artist. Damien Chazelle brings his genius filmmaker mindset to this film and makes a fantastic piece of film. Every scene is beyond heartfelt and all deliver a different kind of punch. First Man is a brilliant depiction of a historical event, but it’s not just the event. It’s the man Neil Armstrong. First Man is a brilliant piece of film and I give it an A+.