quietly intense, claustrophobic mood piece

Rating: 6/10 (26 August 2009)

Eschewing the big budget and CGI special effects of most sci-fi films, Moon is a quietly intense, claustrophobic mood piece about the loneliness, isolation and paranoia of an astronaut who has spent too much time alone in space. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is an engineer manning a mining station on the moon, which is providing vital resources for an energy starved Earth of the distant future. But after an accident leaves him severely injured, Sam comes face to face with a clone of himself, and begins to question his mission and even his own identity. Rockwell delivers a mesmerizing and convincing performance in what is virtually a one-man show. Kevin Spacey provides the voice for GERTY, the computer which controls the moon station, and he sounds alternately caring, controlling or vaguely ominous. Heavily influenced by sci-fi classics like Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey or Silent Running, this debut film from Declan Jones (the son of legendary rock star David Bowie) is truly something of a space oddity.