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MovieMail's Review
This mind-bending British award winner sends Peter Curtis into orbit.
A grand statement: This is the finest science-fiction film since Blade Runner.
Sam Bell is a lone astronaut nearing the end of a three year stint tending a mining base on the dark side of the moon until an accident brings unexpected company.
Never underestimating the intelligence of the audience, this is thoughtful hard science fiction. Duncan Jones’ directorial debut is a low-budget, one man marvel. Sam Rockwell is riveting in every scene, the unravelling astronaut dealing with loneliness as the days drag him nearer to his return to earth, civilisation and his family.
You can detect the clean design of 2001 in the sterile corridors and impersonal computers; the probing of the human condition from Solaris; and the hope of Silent Running in its ideology. Yes, Moon wears their inspiration on its sleeve, but it is no pastiche or lesser work and is comfortable sitting alongside these greats as the best that science-fiction can offer. Not aliens, not special effects, not adventure, but asking the hardest questions regarding what it means to be human.
Commentaries: Duncan Jones, Gary Shaw, Gavin Rothery, Tony Noble, Stuart Fenegan
'Whistle' a short film by Duncan Jones, Creating the Visual Effects, Science Center Q and A with director Duncan Jones, Filmmaker's Q and A at the Sundance Film Festival.
Film Description
Critically-acclaimed space isolation drama starring Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell, a worker for Lunar Industries who is nearing the end of a three-year contract to mine the moon's surface for the precious gas Helium 3, the solution to Earth's energy crisis. As he approaches his return to Earth, Sam reflects on the lessons he has learned during his prolonged isolation and looks forward to his reunion with his wife and young daughter. But a fortnight before his departure he starts seeing and hearing strange things that lead him to suspect that his employers intend to replace him in a far more sinister way than he imagined. Kevin Spacey provides the voice for Sam's only companion, a small robot called Gerty.
"Ingenious science fiction offering, packed with thought-provoking ideas." -
Jonathon Dabell on 9th September 2010
As a movie genre, science fiction seems over the past ten years to have returned to the standard B-movie approach which involves good guys and aliens blasting the hell... more >
As a movie genre, science fiction seems over the past ten years to have returned to the standard B-movie approach which involves good guys and aliens blasting the hell out of each other with lasers. More philosophical and thought-provoking science fiction has been harder to come by. Moon - Duncan Jones's debut feature which premiered to considerable acclaim at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival - is a wonderfully clever sci-fi story, featuring a remarkable performance by Sam Rockwell. It takes elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solyaris and Silent Running, and weaves them into its own uniquely fascinating story of isolation, madness and human exploitation.
Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is the lone worker at a moon base called Sarang, where he monitors and occasionally repairs giant harvesting machines. The machines are gathering helium-3, which provides Earth with energy. Sam is in the final fortnight of a three year contract, and is desperate to get back to his wife and child on Earth. Hardly surprising, since his only companion during three years at the base has been a robot named GERTY (voice of Kevin Spacey). Worse still, a communications malfunction means that Sam has only been able to send and receive pre-recorded messages to his family live chats have not been possible. Whilst out on the moon's surface driving a rover to one of the giant harvesters, Sam accidentally crashes the vehicle. He comes round back at the base and is told by GERTY that he's had an accident but when he goes out to the crash site to investigate further, he finds a body still in the wreckage. His own body! Now there are two Sam Bells on the moon and neither is sure which of them is real. Gradually the two Sams piece together the answers and learn that they are victims of a shameful conspiracy which will drive them to the edge of sanity
Jones not only directed but conceived the original story, with the final script being penned by Nathan Parker. They deserve credit for creating such an engrossing, thought-provoking story and filming it so inventively. Rockwell's performance as the multiple Sam Bells is absolutely superb. It's no exaggeration to say the film relies on him immensely it wouldn't work were it not for his believability in the role. Kevin Spacey's vocal work as GERTY is also noteworthy, evoking memories of Douglas Rains' chilling voice-only performance as HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Clint Mansell's score has a haunting, deliberately repetitive rhythm which suits the story perfectly. There are, perhaps inevitably, moments where the film has a slow-moving quietness about it (how else could Sam's loneliness and tedium be conveyed?) but on the whole this is an impressive movie and one which I think will stand the test of time.
