Film Festival 09 - Moon
Moon
UK 2009
Director: Duncan Jones
Festivals: Sundance, SXSW. San Francisco, Tribeca 2009
A smartly minimalistic science fiction drama, Moon is a tightly
wound, man-alone-in-space workout. A hawkish Sam Rockwell is
unstoppable dynamite as Sam Bell, the lone inhabitant on a moon
base which is dedicated to harvesting lunar rocks to cultivate
clean-burning fuel. As the end of his three year tenure approaches,
Sam anticipates his return to Earth. Grappling with the existential
weight of alienation, solitude and the lonely disconnection from
his wife and daughter back home, Sam's broken physical and mental
health disintegrate into delirium. And it turns out that perhaps he
is not alone. Static and mesmerising, there's a Kubrickian feel to
Sam's environment, but while 2001: A Space Odyssey looks pristine
and sterile, Moon is gloriously grubbier. With a slow burning and
tangible anxiety, Moon is moodily austere with a cool gloom but is
certainly not cold, as it deals with memory and identity with real
heart.
