Oct 27, 2009
I think I mentioned recently that I have removed the 'Last Saturday
Movie Reviews' from the site. It's not that I don't have a lot of
reviews already in the can, it was more that eventually I'd run out
and there just aren't that many movies lately that I've felt the
need to review.
There are always exceptions, however, and recently I got a chance
to see a really beautiful little movie called Moon. To give the
briefest of summaries, it's a film about a near future where
mankind mines the moon for energy. On the moon, a solitary operator
keeps things going for 3 year stints before going back home to
Earth. Sam
Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, who is a mere 2 weeks from going
back to his wife child and is beginning to feel the weight of his
isolated stay so far. The story really picks up when Sam has an
accident out on the surface, then finds himself back in the
infirmary with no idea how he got there.
I won't go into more detail so that you can experience the story on
your own, but beyond the plot points is the real heart of the film.
What this movie is really about is our existence as people, and
what tethers you to our humanity. One of the great things the movie
does is play with our conceptions of what makes a person.
Good example of this GERTY, the A.I. that operates the base with
Sam and is charged with his safety. In the extremely minimal cast
of the film, GERTY gradually becomes another person, as much a
character who we connect to as Sam. The amazing part of this is
that GERTY is quite clearly NOT a person. He is designed as a
throwback to the older 70's conception of a robot, big and blocky
with hardly any ability to convey expression besides a simplistic
LCD that shows a few smiley or frowny faces. Even as this very
simplistic automaton we begin to regard him as another being in the
space with Sam. Unlike, say, R2-D2, who has some quirky mannerisms
that evoke a child but never seems anything BUT a robot, GERTY
evolves into a true presence. As the film progresses, you'll start
to sense real motive behind his actions, something that seems a
simple accomplishment but really isn't for a non-human entity.
Beyond GERTY, Sam Rockwell does an astounding job in a movie that
really demands he act with himself most of the time. There are long
periods of complete lack of interaction, like the movie Cast Away, where the actor must
fill every inch of the frame with himself. We luck out in that
Rockwell manages it very well, and portrays the struggle of man
trying to keep his grip with true realism.
None of this would work, in my view, without the stunningly sparse
score provided by
Clint Mansell. The music works with the film in laying out the
vast emptiness of the moon, yet still manages to punctuate the
often intense moments that come in Sam's story. I ordered the
soundtrack almost immediately after the movie ended.
In the end, this movie is very simple but deeply moving. It's a
great examination of the human spirit, and for fans of films like
2001 or
Logan's Run, it
will provide a welcome break from the usually special effects heavy
but thematically light sci-fi fare that has become the norm.