One Of Rockwell's Best Performances

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2018)

Moon, in short, tells us the story of astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), who, along with his HAL-like computer friend GERTY (Kevin Spacey), is harvesting the moon's natural resources to help Earth's dwindling power supply. Sam has a three-year contract that is weeks away from ending and his replacement will soon arrive. Obviously, he's starting to get a little excited about going home, who wouldn't be, right? Especially since he's a father now; his wife, Tess (Dominique McElligott - to whom he can only communicate via a one-way recorded message), gave birth to their only child, a daughter, while he was at work, plus the isolation is clearly getting to him. It seems like the perfect time to high-tail it out of there. Almost too perfect, something is a little...off. Certainly, GERTY is good company, for a computer who can only display emotion by way of a small screen and creepy emojis, but, pardon the clichÃ©, as the day for his leaving approaches, he has a really close-encounter that is far more entertaining. And life altering.
Moon, IMHO, when I first saw this movie in 2009 I loved it. I just saw it again, and I still love it. Even though it is quite obscure, and still not well promoted, it is a perfect independent film made with a minuscule $5 million budget. I knew as much about it in 2009 before I screened it the first time, as you may know right now. It's really all you need to know about the plot, any more and there'd be spoilers. Moon is one of Sam Rockwell's best films and best performances. It's not packed with explosions, gun fights and other distractions; none of that is needed here. It's good acting, good direction, and a good script.