"For me, the Moon has this weird mythic nature to it... There is still a mystery to it..." Duncan Jones,

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2010)

Moon (2009) -is the film debut of Duncan Jones, aka Zoui Bowie, the eldest son of David Bowie. This is a very good independent film in the genre of space science fiction/drama with the well crafted elements of mystery and thriller. Of course, the film immediately brings to mind such classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Solaris (1972) as well as Silent Running (1972), Alien (1979) and Outland (1981), all of which Jones names as the memorable films from his youth. I say this not to criticize Moon. On the contrary, I believe it is an achievement of the young director/ writer that he made a film on the themes and subjects that have been explored many times by famous and prominent directors, and as result, he made a clever, exciting, touching, and original film. Moon does not fascinate with the spectacular and flashy special computer generated effects, masterfully set fights or breathtaking chases. With 97 minutes of running time, Moon is basically one man show which belongs to charismatic and talented Sam Rockwell. Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an astronaut, working under the contract with the International Lunar Corporation, the company that found the way to efficient production of helium-3 on the Moon. The resulting helium is then shipped to Earth to be used as a source of cheap and much needed energy. Sam's contract lasts 3 years, and when we meet him on the space station he has only two weeks left until his returning home to his wife he desperately longs for and the little daughter, whom he had never seen because she was born after he left for Moon. The only creature he communicates with all this time, is highly organized AI - computer Gertie, for whom Kevin Spacey lends his voice. Like the best films in the genre of sci-fi, the Moon is about a human in extreme conditions, physical, mental and moral. It is about the indifferent silence of space, the nostalgia for home, for love, for Earth. It is also a thriller that makes an interesting twist in the plot. Most importantly, Sam is such an interesting and compelling character that we truly experience everything that he goes through and the choices he makes. To say more would be to spoil the movie. I only add that IMO, Kevin Spacey played one of his best and most human roles for long time.
Jones is planning a follow-up film, titled Mute, which will serve as an epilogue to Moon and I would like to watch it because the ending of Moon was a little rushed, and I have few questions that were not answered in the first film.