The general consensus from this morning's screening of Damien Chazelle's "First Man" at the Venice Film Festival is far from universal praise. Owen Gleiberman’s Variety review is the only 100 score on Metacritic thus far. Colleagues have told me that Claire Foy outshines Ryan Gosling here. I'm still very much looking forward to this as it seems like Chazelle has decided to shoot the film in the style of a 1960s "cinema verite" documentary. I'm seeing a lot of B+ and 4/5 star reviews. Chazelle has proven to be an incredible talent with his first two major films, so there's no reason this film won't deliver.
Stephanie Zacharek's Time review:
"This is a respectful movie, even a genuflecting one; there’s never a moment when Chazelle fails to let you know he’s doing important, valuable work. But that’s the problem: The movie feels too fussed-over for such a low-key hero"