Moon

Finally, finally I got around to watching Moon last Wednesday. Lauded by all as the best science fiction film of 2009 and a throwback to the pensive and introspective science fiction films of the 1970s - it was impossible to not be excited.

There were so many things about this film that I loved. The background music sent me straight into that world of 1970s science fiction like Dark Star or Westworld. The throwback special effects that use actual models for the station and rovers on the moon reminded me of Red Dwarf and an age when science fiction had to rely on stories and characters over whiz-bang CGI. Most of all though, I was captivated by the performance of Sam Rockwell; who plays a man running a mineral production facility on the moon all by himself. It is a lonely job but one in which he is kept sane by the promise of a fat pay cheque and imminent return to Earth when we will be re-united with his wife. It is also a necessary job, made so by the Earth’s endless demand for new and cheap energy sources.

It's a simple premise, one which allows a quite brilliant story to shine. It is hardly a spoiler to state it - since it happens only 20 minutes into the film - so I shall reveal that the science fiction revolves around the main character discovering a second person identical to himself on the moon base. In lesser films this would have been a 'big reveal' moment that required orchestral music and a montage of flashbacks, here though it is an open invitation to explore the psychology of a character who has to deal with this insane situation - and slowly realise what his discovery means for his own life.

The film has a chillingly creepy performance by Kevin Spacey as the voice of the robot that wanders around the moon base helping Sam out (the character played by Rockwell is conveniently called Sam). There was something about the simplicity of the smiley / sad face that this robot uses to express 'emotions' that gave it equal parts terrifying machine-like efficiency and touchingly humanity - a great touch by the set designers. The ease with which the robot keeps Sam in the dark about certain truths while at the same time seeming to genuinely care for his welfare is reminiscent of some king of Orwellian nanny state - all needs accounted for, all fears and emotions mollified.

The film ends up being about sacrifice, secrets and facing up to an untimely unwanted future. Sam Rockwell acts his socks off in scenes where he is talking to himself. Watching the DVD extras afterwards revealed to me that he used to memorise each performance listening to himself on headphones before running through the scene again as the 'other' him. The result is genuinely affecting.

On my original friedgold.co.uk website (still up and running if you fancy a glimpse into my fairly recent past) I used a rating system in which good films got 6/10 and great films got 8/10. I would reserve the hallowed 10/10 for films that were genuine classics, genre-defining or otherwise notable beyond the normal situation in which one would label a film 'great'. I think I only gave a handful of films 10/10 over the course of about 5 years.

Moon - 10/10