Moon (2009)

Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, is a film about astronaut Sam Bell played by Sam Rockwell. Sam is coming to the end of his three year contract working on the surface of the moon harvesting resources, which help power up to 70% of the earth. With two weeks left he is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But things begin to take a turn for the worse. When Sam goes out onto the moon’s surface to collect a cache of recourses he gets into an accident and is rendered unconscious. When he awakens he is in the medical bay of his station, but being that he is the sole worker with only the aid of a highly advanced robot GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey, the question is, how did he get there?

This is director Duncan Jones’ debut feature film, and what a debut it is. For a man with very little prior experience it is a wonder how this man managed to create such a masterpiece on his first real attempt. There was nothing lacking in this film from the simple yet wonderful soundtrack which emphasised the emotion on screen perfectly, right through to the costume and make up which was outstanding. If this is Duncan’s debut feature film then I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us in the future.

Sam Rockwell gave an outstandingly intense performance. Sam goes through a whole host of changes during this film and each and every one has been portrayed and performed to the highest standard. This is an actor who, up until this film, has mainly been playing the supporting roles. But in Moon Sam is thrust into the spotlight and truly shines. Sam plays the vast majority of this film alone, with nothing but Kevin Spacey’s voice to accompany him. Now that is a hard job, with no other actor to read off, to take some of the pressure off but Sam comes out the other end triumphant.

I mentioned before about the costume and make up but seriously, there is not enough credit that can go to that department. The way they show Sam’s gradual decline in health is unbelievable. Towards the end he almost looks like a zombie due to him getting more and more ill. The way I measured whether or not this was effective was the fact I was cringing towards the end as Sam got progressively worse, which I believe was the desired effect. So hats off to some amazing work.

Moon is a film which deals with a variety of issues ranging from loneliness, isolation, the need for human contact right through to what it means to be human. This is by no means your average lost in space sci-fi film, it is something completely different. If you have not seen Moon yet then I cannot recommend this film highly enough and when you watch it you will know exactly what I have been talking about. 

Written by Oliver Willis