Moon

There are some films that the less you know about before viewing them, the better. Moon is one of those films. The story is set sometime in the future, we're not given an exact date. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell (I'm sure this is no coincidence), an employee of Lunar Industries, a company that mines some sort of material on the moon that is the solution to the earth's energy problems. Sam is all alone in a space station on the moon, save for a computer named GERTY that seems to control everything onboard. The fact that the computer is voiced by Kevin Spacey, whose calm, monotone voice is reminiscent of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'm sure is no mistake. Sam is in the last two weeks of his three year contract for Lunar Industries as the sole crew member in the mining station. Needless to say, there are endless directions that the screenplay can take from this point. I will say no more of the plot than that.
If I had seen Moon before I wrote my "Best Of" blog, it would have been listed among my favorites of 2009. The story is most definitely "hard" science fiction. This is a film that I'm sure Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov would enjoy quite thoroughly. Sci-fi is a genre that, when done well, can allow us to think about and relate technology or scenarios that we could never possibly experience to our own lives. Without giving anything away about what happens to Sam, I will say that I was very moved by the storyline and the events of the film. The subject matter is absolutely science fiction, but the story is a very human one.
The technical aspects of the film are also astounding. For an indie film, there are an incredible amount of fx shots. At no point do you ever doubt that Sam is actually on the moon, living and working in a space station. Where a film like Transformers hinges entirely on the special fx, Moon is simply serviced by them.
This is the first film by writer/director Duncan Jones, who as it happens is the son of David Bowie. Moon contains none of the fantastical elements of Bowie's Space Oddity era, but Jones does seem to have the same effortless artistry that his father does. A lot of work went into the production of this film, but you don't think about that when you watch it. Sam Rockwell is an actor that I admire greatly. He has a quality that I can't quite put my finger on, but that element of his acting suits this role very well.
The best movies are the ones that you think about for some time after you've finished them, and the more you think on them, the more you enjoy them. I watched Moon at nine o'clock this morning it is still on my mind, and I don't imagine it will leave my thoughts anytime soon.

*Moon was released on DVD and blu-ray today, so add it to your Netflix queue, or rent it at your local videostore.....if you must.