"MOON"

IN A GALAXY NOT FAR, FAR AWAY
By Gaetana Caldwell-Smith
“Moon,” a film directed by Duncan Jones, written by Jones from an original story, co-written by Nathan Parker, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey.

I wanted to see the film “Moon” when it first came out, here in San Francisco, but within a couple of weeks it was nowhere to be found. In our local daily paper, “The SF Chronicle,” Mick LaSalle, the movie critic, didn’t exactly give it a BAD review, but said it was “boring” with a lot of shots of Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell in his space lab based on the Moon, talking to himself, his plants, or to GERTY, Sam’s robot. I had delayed seeing the film initially because of LaSalle’s review. But people kept telling me how great it was/ So today, after wavering between “Ponyo.” “Moon,” and “Inglourious Basterda,” I saw that “Moon” was playing at The Lumiere, an art house theatre that specializes in the strange and obscure, edgy film. So I ran out of my apartment and made it to the theatre just in time. Mick LaSalle was way off on this one.

“Moon” is a quiet, intelligent, thought-provoking, futuristic science fiction movie that doesn’t rely on over-the-top CGI animation complete with an overpowering John Williams score. And its premise is entirely believable. It is common knowledge that the so-called developed world, especially the US, wants to mine the Moon for its resources, soon, before it runs out of them here on Planet Earth. In the film, a corporation called Lunar Industries is mining an energy source on the Moon to replace the Earth’s rapidly depleting supply. “Moon” ’s conceit is that we need personnel to monitor the computerized operation, so all one has to do is sit in an air-locked outpost and oversee everything remotely. If something goes wrong, you don a space suit and helmet, climb in your monster, six-wheeled, giant Humvee, drive to the site and fix whatever’s wrong. We see long shots of the vehicle bumping along across moon rocks and dust, swerving around craters, as though the camera were hovering in space, with the blue planet Earth in the background.

When the film opens, Rockwell, as Sam Bell, has only two weeks remaining of his three year commitment. He receives live video messages from Lunar Industries, his wife (in anachronistic black and white), but he can no longer send messages as he discovers trying to contact his wife, and Lunar on details of his departure. We find out why later in the film. Sam’s digs boast an entertainment center, GERTY to prepare meals, provide company, even dry his hair. GERTY is represented as Smiley-face emoticons in various stylized expressions, in a small window in the apparatus. On his way to fix a problem, Sam’s truck is bombarded by a hail of rocks, which is most likely a hallucination, since there’s no gravity on the Moon. Startled, Sam crashes into a ditch. The screen goes black. Next, Sam is in the infirmary with GERTY ministering to him. Seems he’s been unconscious for a few days. All GERTY says is that he had an accident. The question of how he got to the infirmary is left dangling. After all, he’s the only human up there. It is answered when we meet Sam’s clone. Yes, clone. Lunar Industries needs men. Men, in industry as in wars, are expendable. Besides, they know things. Best to erase memory, or kill them, replace them with clones. Seems there’s a ready supply of Sam clones at hand.

The film is haunting, with beautiful moonscapes shot in a monochromatic palette by Gary Shaw. Director Jones and Cinematographer Shaw convey the ambiance of what it must be like out there in space. Clint Mansell’s original score, reminiscent of Brian Eno’s work, enhances this feeling.
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