Moon [2009] (2009) Sam Rockwell; Kevin Spacey; Dominique McElligott

The best movie you may have never heard of, I hadn't either but was looking for something to watch and am so glad I did. Maybe Sam Rockwell's finest acting. Moon doesn't have the tension or suspense of Alien or Star Wars but is an evenly paced movie that is both thoughtful and poignant and without giving anything away actually takes place on the moon. It's definitely not an action rollercoaster ride but a well crafted movie that makes you think.

Moon is a peculiar film that I’m frankly surprised anyone got greenlit. It’s basically a one character, one set drama. It is a character-driven piece that is quiet, brooding and thoughtful. It reminds me a bit of “Gattaca”. Like Gattaca, the science fiction elements are used simply to create the logic framework for the character and emotional dynamics. While these dynamics couldn’t really be developed without the scifi logic behind it, the emotions and pathos are universal and existential. I don’t wish to spoil the film, so I have to keep the plot summary simple: a lonely man is in the last two-weeks of his 3 year solo tenure monitoring an automated mining operation on the moon. His only companion is a HAL-esque robot of vaguely sinister aspect. Due to communication failures, he has been cut off from any real-time communication for most of his tenure, and he is on the edge of sanity. Then a terrible accident occurs. This film stars Sam Rockwell, a fine actor, with an affect thirty-three degrees off the mainline. Whenever I see him in a film, I have to go through a quick mental adjustment to accept his affect, before I settle in to enjoying his wonderful naturalistic, yet skewed style. In this film, he plays across the gamut of human emotions in a brilliant symphony of shifts – some discordant, but all fitting within the overall orchestration. I simultaneously felt pity, anger, disdain and disgust with his character. After the middle of the film, Moon doesn’t try to hide its secret, but at that point it doesn’t matter. By the mid-point of the film, I cared more about how Sam’s character navigated and triumphed against the threats than the machinations behind them (which are a little trite, falling back on the much told ‘evil corporation’ meme). The film is a wonderfully satisfying emotional experience, which had me in tears at the end. It is both sad and limned in warmth, like chocolate with chili peppers. I loved it (warning…it is a bit slow to start).

Sam Bell (Sam Roackwell) works on the moon for a company called Lunar Industries. In the distant future, the Earth's natural resources are all used up. Lunar Industries has decided to farm the dark side of the moon for He3 which is then sent back to Earth to use to run the planet. Sam Bell's job is to make sure all the equipment is running well. At the beginning of the movie we join Sam, who has 2 weeks left on a 3 year stint. The only source of comradery that Sam has, is his robot GERTY (voiced perfectly by Kevin Spacey), who seems to be a distant relative of HAL from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. The only way Sam can communicate with his family, wife Tess (Dominique McElligott) is through video postcards. during one of Sam's ride in his moon rover, he gets in to an accident. After blacking out we are taken to a few days later when Sam wakes up in sick bay. Sam doesn't remember what happened or why he is in sick bay. GERTY tells Sam that his boses have said for him to rest and they are sending a rescue ship to fix rover and collection vehicle that Sam crashed into. After a few days, Sam is able to talk GERTY into letting him outside, and he visits the crash site. Upon looking in the rover, he finds a body there. Sam brings the body back to homebase, and the person he finds is, Sam Bell. The viewer doesn't know if one of the other is a clone, or a figment of Sam's imagination, or a dream. Duncan Jones (who also directed and is the son of rock legend David Bowie) and Nathan Parker co-wrote an amazing piece of cinema that makes the viewer think. You're not sure if everything you've seen is real, and that's the way it should be. You can see that Jones and Parker have been influenced hevily by 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, from GERTY, to having classical music playing when Sam goes out to walk or drive around on the moon, to the lonely worker. Sam Rockwell does an amazing job of acting only against Kevin Spacey's voice and himself. This is essentially an actors movie. If you are looking to see how to be a great actor, Rockwell's preformance is one to be seen. It's a real shame that this movie was released in the summer, during the time of the blockbuster, because this is certainly a movie that should be seen by everyone. 4 1/2 out of 5

Moon ist ein kleines Meisterwerk – klaustrophobisch, philosophisch und emotional berührend. Duncan Jones inszeniert eine einsame Mission auf dem Mond mit minimalem Budget, aber maximalem Ideenreichtum. Sam Rockwell trägt den Film fast allein – und liefert eine der besten Leistungen seiner Karriere. Die Blu-ray bietet sehr gute Bild- und Tonqualität: die sterile Mondstation, das kalte Licht und die beklemmende Stille kommen hervorragend zur Geltung. Die Extras geben interessante Einblicke in die Produktion. Wer Science-Fiction jenseits von Effektfeuerwerk sucht, findet hier ein echtes Highlight – leise, klug und bewegend.

Un film bellissimo e ricco di spunti di riflessione sul nostro presente. Guardarlo mi ricorda sempre che non servono produzioni milionarie per poter raccontare una storia che emoziona. Nella fantascienza sopratutto, serve una buona idea, serve la voglia di raccontare le contraddizzioni della nostra società...in questo film il tutto è accompagnato da una regia ispirata e una perfrmance del protagonista toccante in certi momenti. Un film che mi resterà sempre particolarmente caro.

Not being sold on modern movie-making, this had to be good to win someone over like myself. I went for this as soon as I'd heard that it was about someone who is based all alone on the Moon for three years. (sounds like something I'd enjoy - being a lover of all things 'moon'!) However; having not read, heard or learned anything else about this movie, I still really didn't know what to expect... I'd not even seen the trailer, and so I would make of it what I would... It has to be said that any film that can keep you interested with only a cast of 'one' for an hour and a half has to be 'credited' with something! There was a real sense and feeling of 'isolation' for the guy 'Sam', and the sets were really convincing. Not judging movies to be great by either its stars or big budgets; it has to be said that this is probably the greatest movie of the first decade of the twenty-first century in my opinion! I'd not heard of Duncan Jones, or the actor Sam Rockwell (again; not surprising really, since I'm not into many modern pictures) and so all this can be accredited to the film/story itself. After my first viewing, I was left feeling rather 'stunned', 'melancholic' and was unsure of what to make of it as a whole. I felt I really needed to see this again - and quickly, before forming any 'permanent' opinion of it. I did this the following evening with my Partner who is not into Sci-Fi at all, and therefore was interested to know what he would make of it - he was impressed! There are some great extras on this DVD; my favourite of which is a Q & A with Duncan Jones, whom after watching I now have a huge admiration and respect for. He did so much with so little, is so humble, and had such an awful lot of modesty by crediting almost everything to the star of the movie, Sam Rockwell. What a lovely bloke he is! Though interesting, there is a featurette on the 'Visual Effects' side of things. I'm never keen on these myself, as I don't wish to know how these things are done as it can sometimes spoil subsequent viewings. I would certainly be interested in a 'sequel' if one is ever done (though it might be better left alone) or indeed anything else in the Sci-Fi genre this guy decides to direct. He has mentioned another 'futuristic' movie set on earth I think which does sound pretty exciting. As everyone else seems to have said here; I too was 'sold' on the BEAUTIFUL soundtrack and had to purchase the CD! Simply amazing and not to be missed!!

La edición en DVD no esta mal con contenidos extras con comentarios de Duncan Jones y otros extras. Tiene versión original con subt itulos en inglés, que para mí es algo básico. De la película en sí, cualquier cosa que comente sería redundante con las demás opiniones. Pero, que duda cabe, que es la mejor película de ciencia ficción en décadas

Interesting film that plays upon the notion of do we really know ourselves