Moon

As I watched 'Moon' I couldn't help but marvel at the confidence of the director (Duncan Jones who is also the son of David Bowie!) who trusted his story and avoided the common traps many Hollywood movies fall into or are forced into by focus groups and studios executives who think they know how to tell the story. 'Moon' moves at its own deliberate pace and I for one felt like the filmmaker didn't talk down to to me as the audience. He respected my ability to figure things out without a monologue or scene telling me what I was suppose to feel and think every ten minutes. Jones creates a much more satisfying viewing experience than say someone like M. Night Shayamalan who sets everything up to service his end of movie 'twist'. Unless the reveal is something so shocking (as was the case in 'Sixth Sense') we are almost always left with a feeling of disappointment. In 'Moon' the twist is just the starting point for the story.

Usually when the 'big reveal' takes place at the end of a movie we are left to only imagine how the twist would affect characters we have gotten to know over 90 minutes. That is such a cop-out and the director gets away with not having to be responsible for what happens AFTER the twist which to me is the most interesting part. Its like getting only half the story.

As I mentioned, in this film the big reveal comes early and we see it coming. Once the reality of what we are experiencing sinks in, we then can sit back and enjoy a fascinating story about how a man (or in this case two men) deal with the world they thought they understood. Each story beat reveals another piece of the larger puzzle until then end.

The always excellent Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell a man who works in the near future on the far side of the moon. He is there to supervise the production of a fuel source that is used to meet the power needs of the Earth. Machines do all the work. With only a robot companion (voiced by Kevin Spacey) he works to fulfill his three year contract to the corporation that set up the lunar processing stations in the first place. He is more technician than astronaut.

With only a few weeks to go before returning to Earth, Sam is out on the lunar surface when he discovers another person in a crashed vehicle and takes him back to his base. He thinks he was always alone. There aren't suppose to be anyone else on the Moon. He is thrown for a loop when he sees that the man he rescued looks exactly like him.

Telling you anything else would be ruining the viewing experience. Both the set design and the music are excellent and only compliment the story. I got caught up in this one and I think you will too.