First Man (2018)

First Man (2018): adapted by Josh Singer from the book by James R. Hansen; directed by Damien Chazelle; starring Ryan Gosling (Neil Armstrong), Claire Foy (Janet Armstrong), Jason Clarke (Ed White), Kyle Chandler (Deke Slayton), and Corey Stoll (Buzz Aldrin): Sober, often brilliant biopic about Neil Armstrong from his days as a civilian test pilot to the lunar landing. 

The film is shockingly true to history, even to making Armstrong a closed-off, emotional cipher to his friends and family. But Armstrong's strength is his ability to work a problem in the middle of that problem, staying cool and (literally) calculating when things fall apart in the air, in orbit, or above the lunar surface. Ryan Gosling does about as good a job as an actor can do with a role this muted.

Damien Chazelle, late of La La Land, doesn't quite have the poetry (or the poetic license) of Phil Kaufman on The Right Stuff. But he does have an attention to detail and a rigor when it comes to presenting the realities of what things actually look like in space and on the lunar surface. 

Chazelle also sets up a tension between the cramped quarters of the vehicles and the wide-open spaces through which these vehicles hurl that is nothing less than inspired. He also manages an understated dread during the film's depiction of the Apollo 1 fire that suggests he should try a horror movie next.

The cast delivers throughout, with a special nod to Claire Foy as Janet Armstrong, perpetually trying to draw Neil out emotionally. Corey Stoll is a hoot as the brash Buzz Aldrin, and Jaosn Clarke is excellent as Armstrong's closest friend in the Apollo program, Ed White. Highly recommended.