Damien Chazelle

“First Man”

After becoming the youngest person to win the Oscar for best director — just 32 when he took it for “La La Land” — Chazelle was always going to have a tough act to follow with his third film, “First Man.” A more somber, quiet take on the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong than multiplex audiences might have been expecting, “First Man” underwhelmed at the box office, but his film could still have the last laugh on Oscar night if voters want to honor the uniqueness and difficulty of his approach.