MOON
Directed by Duncan Jones
Produced by Stuart Fenegan & Trudie Styler
Written by Nathan Parker, based on a story by Jones
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
UK. 97 min. Rated R
With Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey & Dominique McElligott
 

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has been on the Moon for three years by himself, working at a station mining something called Helium-3 (it’s a type of rock, basically) for the corporation Lunar. His only companion is a smiley-faced robot named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey). Sam has adjusted to this solitary work, and is about ready to return home to his wife and young daughter…or so he thinks before he starts seeing hallucinations while mining. Injured after crashing his lunar mobile, he is somewhat healed when he discovers to his surprise that he is no longer alone—he has a clone, a child-like version of himself. Besides the existence of the clone, there are other questions: why can’t transmissions make their way from Earth to the Moon station? What is the corporation really after with Helium-3? Can another clone be made?

A film that focuses more on thought than action, Moon should be seen by any self-confessed admirer of smart science fiction. Director Duncan Jones takes influences from some art-house iconic features, like the original Solaris and, of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey, not to mention the spaceman-alone-with-trees flick Silent Running with Bruce Dern, and yet his concerns are contemporary.

What happens when your clone exists in the present tense while the “real” version of yourself has just arrived on the Moon station? Can one truly deal with isolation? Complementing the ideas raised, Jones takes his commercial filmmaking-trained eye to the space station setting, which is designed in cold whites and smooth surfaces, and the score by Clint Mansell fills the empty spaces and moments of tension and reflection beautifully. One may even, at best, be reminded of Ridley Scott’s Alien. (One wonders if Moon will be Jones’ calling card to much greener, blockbuster pastures.) If the end result is not a total out-of-the-park hit, it may be because Jones steps back into a conventional comfort zone, just when it seems he's about ready to push a scene or a moment into real visionary territory.

Jones also casts an actor in a showcase role that ranks with his best. Sam Rockwell is too good looking to be just a character actor, but that’s how he has placed himself, either taking on solid supporting roles (last year’s Frost/Nixon or the killer in The Green Mile) or a tortured, quirky or wise-ass lead like in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and last year’s Choke. With Moon, Jones gives us two Rockwells for the price of one.

But it’s also important to note Kevin Spacey here. He does a great deadpan imitation of Douglas Rain’s own deadpan HAL 9000 voice. It’s a riff on it, to be sure, with Gerty being a dutiful robot whose chief function is to protect Sam Bell, even if it’s from himself (and his clone). We see the smiley face attached to this roving robot change depending on his mood, from sad to confused to a full-toothed grin. It’s a clever device that goes past the quintessential freak-out Kubrick concoction, largely because Spacey nails every single line. It’s both happy news and something to lament that this may be Spacey’s best performance in a decade. Jack Gattanella
June 12, 2009