Like Solaris, only a lot less absorbed and more absorbing

Rating: 9/10 (18 August 2009)

I am reluctant to label this film as "sci-fi". It is a film about loneliness, loss and identity which uses space as a convenient metaphor.
The basic plot is very quickly summed up, and does show many similarities with Solaris: man is working alone on a commercial mining expedition to the moon. He is about to be sent back to earth after completing his three year contract for a Korean energy company. His job appears to be basic maintenance of automated mining equipment, and he spends his days carving wooden figurines, growing plants and talking to the computer that helps him with everyday tasks. He is clearly a very lonely man, and comforts himself with dreams and pictures of his wife and daughter back on earth.
Shortly before his return to earth, strange things start happening, and this is where the story really starts. The initial assumption, much like in Solaris, is that he is losing his mind. Unlike Solaris however, Moon offers a real, gripping storyline full of unexpected twists from this point on. It has a very similar focus on the inner life of the main protagonist, but explores this both more broadly and more clearly.
The central concern of the film is asking firstly what makes us human, and secondly what makes us ourselves. While it does have a satisfying (if cheesy) answer to the first question, it has no answer to the second. It explores the potential human and moral issues involved in exploiting new technology, and asks what we actually value in life - if we don't know who we are, or why we exist, why do we still care?
Possible criticisms are that some elements of the plot are never fully explained, and I found the heavy handed socialist theme of the "evil corporation" a bit tediously predictable.
Overall, it is an emotionally touching film that nevertheless has a very tight plot and pacing that keeps the suspense up almost to the last scene.