You and me and the moon
Moon is a 2009 film starring Sam Rockwell as a guy (also named Sam, which is not surprising, since Duncan Jones, a.k.a. Zowie Bowie, wrote the movie specifically with Sam Rockwell in mind) stuck on a moon-based space station, orbiting Earth and starting to lose it. His three year stint is almost over, and he’s counting the days until he can get home to his wife and daughter, whose infrequent video feeds are the only contact he has with the outside world due to faulty communication equipment. He seems mellow enough, but he looks like he’s trying to outrun himself every time he gets on the treadmill. And then things get a little flaky, and he starts to hallucinate…
Like all good science fiction, it asks basic questions about the human condition and meditates upon them. Rockwell’s Sam is a heartbreakingly decent guy, a man who craves human contact, a man who misses his wife. A man who might be losing his mind, and who still never forgets who he is. In the film, Sam’s been working on sculpting a minutely detailed model of his hometown from memory. It’s a lovely metaphor for a movie that’s jam-packed with love (the film pays homage to classics of sci-fi that came before it, and then makes them its own) and literally hand-made (Jones eschewed CGI for models, and it gives the film a gratifyingly gritty feel). It’s a moody, thoughtful little film, with a compelling plot and amazing acting. The movie poster alone is a marvel of art design and context: a man, small and alone, encapsulated, warped by rings of isolation.
The trailer does a better job than I can– it tells you everything you need to know: that Moon has an eerie but never intrusive soundtrack, that the space station (called Sarang, which means “love” in Korean; Jones was dating a Korean woman at the time) is cramped and too-white and serves only to amplify Sam’s terrible loneliness. It’s a loneliness unrelieved by the presence of his robot pal, GERTY (voiced with creepy sincerity by Kevin Spacey) or even Sam’s doppelganger. It’s a science fiction film with a weirdly probable setting; we see a future that feels about ten minutes away, and definitely real enough to touch.
Give this one a chance; I bet you’ll find it stays with you.
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This movie is severely great. When Sam Rockwell eventually nabs an Oscar, everybody’s going to say, “Yeah, but he should have got it for Moon.”
He didn’t get a nod for the Chuck Barry movie?
Nope. Criminally overlooked for his role as Guy Fleegman in Galaxy Quest as well.
It is wicked. I can’t deny.
It’s a haunting movie, no joke.
I’ve never heard of this movie. I’ll definitely check it out- sounds great.
You should! It’s so good!
OMG I loved that movie! GERTY is one of my favorite robots ever.
Kevin Spacey gives me the wiggins, although I’ve enjoyed his performances. I really like how his smarm totally became genuine kindness in this, though.