Tea With The Tempest.

Moon could have been another blatantly stereotypical sci-fi film or some sort of psychological thriller that Sam Bell (the main character) created out-of-body multiple personalities, similar to Fight Club. I was delightfully surprised. Moon is one of those rare gems that you can achieve from a small budget ($5M) and a shooting period of only thirty-three days. Sam Rockwell, an underestimated actor, portrayed Sam Bell (hopefully this film will boost his morale within the industry and we can see more of this marvellous man.) His portrayal of the diminishing character was a very real and powerful performance. The story is as follows: Sam Bell has spent almost three years alone on the moon, harvesting a renewable energy source from the dark side of the moon. His only companion, a very 2001 style robotic system named Gerty. During his last two weeks of his contract he suffers a crash that reveals the whole underbelly of the helium-3 harvesting industry. The twist (which I’ll try not to reveal) was plausible for a film set in the near future, even if the idea is popular in the sci-fi industry.

The ideas that Moon was homage to 2001 and Alien are quite clear through the environment and sets that the filmmakers used. Like 2001, the station is very clean and white with the appropriate-looking technologies. The moon itself seemed like a very lonely and empty place, achieved through the vast and dark landscapes of the surface and atmosphere of a moon longing to have some sort of physical contact was strong and the connection between Sam and the moon can be made. Also, like Alien, this mood was set early on with establishing a clear and hostile world, the moon obviously not being a life-threatening sort of hostility but a more emotional and psychological one.

Moon allows the audience to think about more than can be seen. A message about the diminishing natural resource reserves of the world is set right at the start but this is merely the surface of the ideals revealed in the film. To go beneath the surface, you find the integrity and compassion that makes us human and are confronted with an already talked about conspiracy, that has both moral and questionable arguments. Overall, Moon was a visually exciting, sometimes slow but masterfully played and made film, right down to the acting and directing. It’s a fantastic start for director, Duncan Jones and I am hopeful that this boosts Sam Rockwell from his B-Grade status.

Labels: film review, LameHobo, Moon, Movie