Chazelle's first two works are all about music-related themes. The buried genius drummer, the young men and women who are chasing dreams in Hollywood, experienced setbacks and finally ushered in success. The protagonists in the film seem to outsiders to be successful and live a happy life. In fact, they have no choice but to give up their precious values, love, family, etc. on the road to the so-called "success". The drummer who is dedicated to fame and fortune, and the hero and heroine who eventually missed each other in "La La Land", this is the case. In the script of this new work, a character with a similar fate trajectory is still created, the only difference is that this is a real person: the first astronaut to land on the moon in human history. Usually the biographies of such classic characters, the script often focuses on depicting them assiduously researching technology, showing the pioneering spirit not afraid of failure, and devoting themselves to the moon landing plan regardless of everything, so as to highlight the glorious image of this character as much as possible. Coupled with the character of this space astronaut, Hollywood is best at flexing its muscles in the sci-fi space genre, dazzling special effects pictures and thrilling rocket liftoff scenes are inevitable.
However, Chazelle did not fully follow this usual pattern to develop the narrative, and what I just mentioned was only part of the plot; he took a different approach and chose to use the astronaut's family life as an entry point, quietly and slowly dissect his real life The credible psychological state gradually removes the great halo from him, restores his ordinary identity as a husband/father, and allows the audience to deeply understand the difficult balance and painful choices he made between career and family. The film uses two funerals to pave the way for the protagonist to face the erratic fate in his career, and the ties between family and affection are more vividly shown in every scene where he drives a space rocket. The extremely limited space inside the capsule, the scenery flashing outside the window, the breathing sound of the protagonist, and the voice of the call to the ground staff, although there are not many lines, can effectively show how much he attaches importance to this ordinary identity as a husband/father .
This family-focused portrayal continues into the climax of the plot. As we all know, the protagonist has created a feat in human history, he is the first astronaut to set foot on the moon. In addition to the expected and familiar scenes of the moon landing, the director also added an indistinguishable detail: he buried the bracelet of his deceased daughter in a crater. This detail is not abrupt, on the contrary, it can highlight the importance of family affection in his mind. He tried his best to make up for the lack of affection for his wife and children. In the eyes of the world, he is a great moon landing hero, but in reality he is a frustrated family member who failed to fully fulfill his responsibilities as a husband/father.
The director uses the narrative method of family and family ethics drama to greatly expand the expression form of traditional biopics, so that this original serious and old-fashioned genre can be presented from a new angle. The theme still maintains a striking similarity with the director's two previous works: the protagonist eventually becomes a big winner in life, but has no choice but to lose a lot of precious things on the way to the so-called "success". Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that the whole film maintains a depressed and low style, including the handling of the climax. The film did not end successfully in the joyful atmosphere of the protagonist's successful return from the moon landing. Instead, it ended in a lonely scene where the wife and her husband in the isolation room were separated by a glass. This meaningful ending is also similar to the last scene of "La La Land". This work once again proves that Chazelle is an author-conscious director in today's Hollywood, no matter what the subject matter of the story, he can use his own narrative techniques to express an accurate point of view.
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