Former Vanderbilt student stirs up lunar dust with accomplished thriller Moon
by D. Patrick Rodgers @dpatrickrodgers
- Sam Rockwell explores the dark side of the moon.
Set on a lunar base in an ambiguous but seemingly politically and environmentally stable future, the pensive sci-fi thriller Moon marks an impressive feature-length debut for commercial director Duncan Jones, a former Vanderbilt Ph.D. candidate (and the sole progeny of David Bowie's first marriage). Sam Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, the isolated and increasingly distraught clock-puncher contracted by remote Lunar Industries for a three-year haul. His job is to oversee the automated mining of helium-3 from the moon's surface, and not to go crazy in the process. The Kevin Spacey-voiced GERTY—Rockwell's robotic assistant/covert supervisor, à la 2001's HAL—serves as an even-keeled foil, against which Rockwell's heartrending series of breakdowns and epiphanies appears absurdly...well, human.
Peppering his film with beautiful, monolithic shots of the lunar landscape, Jones successfully paints a picture of loneliness, vulnerability and despair while miraculously avoiding the trite pitfalls of sci-fi's old standby, Space Madness. While Moon's various gadgets and special effects will slake your spacelust, the plot leans most directly on philosophical hypotheticals and the questions they raise—the future of artificial intelligence vs. genetics, corporate interests vs. the rights of the individual. Despite a small cast and little action—at least by futuristic thriller standards—Moon remains captivating and poignant throughout, thanks mostly to Rockwell's remarkable performance and Jones' elegant eye for alienation in an alien nation.
Note: Moon kicks off The Belcourt's "Best of Sundance 2009" series, to continue in coming weeks with the comedies Humpday (July 31) and In the Loop (Aug. 14) and a selection of shorts from this year's festival (Sept. 2). Starting this Friday, a reception will be held for ticket buyers on the opening night of each film in the series, with food from Cabana, Fido, Midtown Café, Sunset Grille and Tin Angel and a selection of wine from Village Wines. For more information, see belcourt.org.
Email prodgers@nashvillescene.com.
