The Lunar Labour Pool

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2011)

In "Moon", a nifty little science-fiction movie, Sam is the only human inhabitant of a lunar mining facility where all the work is done by machines. The facility is run by a computer named Gerty. Sam is there to perform work that Gerty, due to its physical limitations, cannot manage. In a very real sense, Gerty's the boss. Gerty even has real-time meetings with its superiors on Earth, which Sam doesn't know about. Sam is not in the loop. Gerty is more than just boss. He's the resident cook, doctor, psychiatrist, and...priest? I don't want to give any of the story away, but certain other duties fall within Gerty's purview.
Sam is on the facility for a three-year tour of duty, after which he will head home to his beautiful wife and little girl - and that is in a matter of weeks. But the solitude has taken its toll on him. He seems to be cracking up, and he's become somewhat derelict. He just waits and dreams the same dreams that we all do. And then, that wonderful inevitability that happens in movies. Something occurs that's not supposed to, and things get really interesting. Director Duncan Jones has, in a sense, let the story tell itself. The pace is leisurely by today's standards, and he has not succumbed to any temptation he might have had to jack up the thriller elements or sci-fi voodoo. Best of all, Actor Sam Rockwell has been given all the room he needs to do his thing and he delivers a compelling performance. Rockwell's Everyman not only has something for each of us, individually, to latch onto, but also provides fodder for the discussion of this film as a whole. Sam (the character) is pushed to question nothing less than his entire existence.
It appears that very little CGI was used in the making of this film and that the moon's surface was a model set. It's obvious that a lot of love and care went into the making of "Moon". It's a quiet, engaging little surprise.