Moon — movie review
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Genre: Drama, Indie
Today, July 20 2009, forty years after the first (human) steps were taken on the moon, is a perfect time to “launch” this review concerning a different take on mankind on the moon, and mankind in general. — Kris
The examination of loneliness in space is a far from unfamiliar concept, but few films dare to leave one man in solitary confinement as does Moon.
Sam Rockwell, an actor not exactly known for playing sweet and tidy, actually exudes warmth, if only in juxtaposition to an ornery, impatient “visitor” abruptly introduced in the crux of the film. The visitor bears a striking resemblance to himself, or himself a couple of years prior, when he was a sparkling fresh space cadet embarking on a three-year contract solely stationed on the lunar surface, where a futuristic company discovered a method of extracting a renewable energy source.
Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, diligent employee and devoted family man, a slight shell of a gentleman who painstakingly whittles a model of his hometown and gossips with foliage because they are the only company he is allowed to keep. The catch is that the character later reveals that he was never a patient soul before his tour, rather a hot-tempered fool who melted into a more mild-mannered redundancy and renewed appreciation for his Earth life and his Earth wife. Absence and abstinence certainly make the heart grow fonder.
Kevin Spacey, who has one of the most docile, soothing tones in Hollywood, appropriately portrays the temperate computerized fully-robotic assistant GERTY (shout-out to E.T. maybe?), who is much like the paperclip Helper in Microsoft Word: ever-present, ever-helpful, ever-irritating to its user. The boxy ‘bot interacts through an 6″x6″ monitor displaying IM-worthy animated smileyface .gifs and hydraulic quirks. GERTY’s motivation is to please Sam, although pure logic affords zero allowance for empathy or altruism. GERTY’s prime motivation is also to protect Sam, so we may indeed have a sappy machine on our side. Ergo, an opportunity for intervention is overridden by duty. Duty as psuedo friendship.
Not only did Sam’s personality dip, but he increasingly employs the yeti look, abandoning upkeep, salvaged only by GERTY’s diligent Flowbee attachment tool, giving him a more Shaggy from Scooby Doo ‘do. We are treated not only to the always trippy, ultra-sanitary all-white realm of outer-space live/work quarters and moon mobiles, expertly rendered (master effects artists scurried to help, due in part to the “luck” ‘o the writers’ strike, when they were hurting for work), but also the graphic and brutal scenes of Sam’s physical deterioration (as he realizes both his contract and his life share the same expiration date), thereby fueling audience empathy. Bloodydisgusting.com also received first round screenshots of Moon, so that might tell you something about the level of gore. It’s not a horror movie, but it imparts an indie realism (just a word of caution). Clint Mansell, a man familiar with gut-wrenching indie realism, and also the man who is Darren Aronofsky’s darling (having scored Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Pi) scored Moon, so buckle up for some melancholic hypnotic vibes with that signature sense of urgency and awesome repetitive trotting/plodding percussion… some of his haunting violin ensembles are reminiscent of eerie tops-of-wine-glass resonant tones.
Moon’s awe is all-encompassing. We are faced with the awareness of our own individual approaching expiration date, and shudder to imagine a not-too-distant future where corporations gauge our worthiness by determining that date. A science as God issue arises as well; if humans are blessed (or bless themselves rather) with such an opportunity, how quick would we be to manipulate and abuse that power? Of course, the bleak moral Moon portends would enlist the cost of one for the welfare of many. But at what cost to humanity? At the film’s frenetic “open-ended close”, we encounter a rush of realistic heroic deeds in the form of self-sacrifice, physical determination, and ultimate optimism, proving that the life of one man on the Moon can change the lives of many on Earth.
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