Moon

2009 sci-phi-losophy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: Sam's an employee of Lunar Industries, their only moon-based employee actually. It has something to do with energy. But he's nearing the end of his three-year contract and looks forward to returning home to his wife and daughter. He's been on the moon for so long that he's forgotten how to groom himself. Luckily, he's got a friendly gay robot named Gerty to help him out. He begins hallucinating, not really a problem until he crashes his giant vehicle into a crater and getting blood on his space helmet. Oh, snap! This sets off a chain of events that get Sam wondering about who he is, who he works for, and whether the lunar erections he gets are real.

This lacked the robot-man sex scene that would have bumped this to a 20, but I still really liked it. It's a moody, philosophical sci-fi creepathon that can sit on the shelf right next to Solaris (the George Clooney one, of course) and 2001. Just like those two movies, I was confused about what was going on a lot of the time, but the direction, the settings, and the tones set a mood that one can easily identify with even if one doesn't understand why the loneliness, the despair, and the discombobulation seem so familiar. Sam Rockwell's performance is great, creating a character who is easy to identify with. There's a delicate balance to what he does here, and he manages to remain very human and real with a character who could have ended up being pretty goofy. It's safe to say that if Rockwell wasn't good in this, the movie would have been a failure. This is the type of movie that toys a bit with audience expectations. There's a Hal-esque robot, but he doesn't turn out like Hal at all. You expect certain "twists" because you're used to seeing those types of twists in action movies or psychological thrillers, but then you don't get 'em. It's low-key in a way that is almost disarming. I also really liked the look of this movie. It must have been shot in the same studio where NASA shot the moon landing. A lack of color and the creepy electronic music (Clint Mansell) also contribute to the gloom. And gloomy it needs to be because I don't think this is a very cheery movie thematically. The future doesn't look too good for our souls, does it? I did like some of the sneaky humorous touches though, like when Sam removes a "kick me" sign from his gay robot friend.

This was a Larst recommendation. He's kind of like my gay robot friend!