I saw this film last night at the Bow Tie Criterion Cinema in New Haven. For a relatively unknown theater and a relatively unknown film, the crowd was surprisingly large. About half full. Now, I will say that I enjoyed the film, but at the same time I found it mildly off putting that the psychological mystery I expected from the spectacular trailer (viewable here: http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/moon/) did not come to fruition. The audience is left very much in the dark for roughly half the film. I feel I would have enjoyed it more had it been billed as a purely science fiction film rather than a genre straddling journey into the mind of a man alone and enclosed.
WARNING: There be (limited) spoilers ahead
Sam Rockwell delivers a powerful performance as an astronaut charged with the task of monitoring a lunar mining facility. The year is somewhere ahead, but not far off. Moon rocks provide energy for 75% of the earth's inhabitants. His contract for a three year station is about to end, and the situation has begun to rot his mind. Hallucinations ensue, and an accident while driving a rover leaves him severely injured. He wakes up back in the base with no recollection of how he got there. But after convincing the computer system to allow him to leave the base to inspect for meteorite damage, he finds the rover that crashed, and his body still inside it. What follows is a clone plot straight out of the science fiction story handbook. The sick and injured Sam must work with his newly awakened clone self to solve the mystery of whether or not there really are clones, if the station is more than it seems, and all along the sanity of Sam is in question.
The film is clearly "2001" inspired but not close enough to be considered plagiarism. However, you can definitely see the set design and claustrophobic camera angle choices of Kubrick reflected in the style of director Duncan Jones. The style creates an alien yet somehow familiar setting, like the set was deja vu. Despite setbacks in the plots formulaic follow through, Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Sam Bell is without misstep. The angry confusion is palpable in his dialog, and his misery never fails to touch you as a human being. His work becomes more impressive when considering the amount of work involved in creating the scenes where he talks to himself, numerous costume and make up changes between them. Bringing up the rear is an unnoticed Celebrity actor doing the voice of the station's computer, GERTY. Kevin spacey proves his ability once again in creating a dead on computer AI personality with conflicted loyalties. The sets are simple and believable. The real final piece is the simple yet eerie and beautiful piano of Clint Mansell, who succeeds overwhelmingly in setting the tone and matching the action, without resorting to old cliches and expected norms such as a sharp tone change at a reveal scene. He instead opts for building foreboding while the viewer slowly understands the scene with a growing dread.
My only major gripe with this film is the brevity of the ending. Nothing is tied up in a way acceptable to my curiosity. We are led to believe that the Sams succeed, but considering the psychological tone of so much pf the film, it becomes unclear what happened and what did not, and there are literally dozens of ways to take it. Not a bad ending, but I'm left asking so much. I hope for DVD commentary to answer my questions when it is released.
Verdict: *****
4 out of 5 stars
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