Thursday, August 27, 2009

Blogorium Review: Moon

So tonight we saw Moon, the first of hopefully many joints from Duncan Jones. While we saw it at the Carmike, Moon opens at The Carousel tomorrow and I highly recommend you go see it. I may need to see it again at The Carousel because the experience of watching the movie was a bit tainted, even if Moon more than made up for the technical deficiencies.

Normally I try not to talk about the nitty gritty theatrical experience. In theory, the review should almost always be about the movie, but the Carmike had seriously damaged this print, to the point that vertical scratches ran the entire length of the movie and the sound cut out, became muddy, or was distorted throughout the running time. For a movie like Moon, the sound is very important, which is why I feel like seeing this again might be necessary beyond simply enjoying the movie.

After the movie, Andy commented that he was happy to be able to see Moon without any preconceived notions or too much knowledge of what the plot was about. "I was able to let the experience take me along for the ride", which is exactly what a movie like this does. I could tell you some of the plot sketches involving Sam Rockwell (playing a character named Sam Bell) but the truth is that you're better off not knowing. If all you know about Moon comes from the trailers or the frequent comparisons to 2001 and Silent Running, good. That's all you need.

I'll add one more note, which is to say that Moon fulfills the promise abandoned two thirds of the way into Sunshine: a science fiction film for adults that takes the premise seriously and is actually thought provoking. Aside from a few chuckles at the "face" GERTY, the base's computer (voiced by Kevin Spacey) makes, Moon never winks at the audience and says "we know, it's just science fiction."

The film takes a few left turns when you'd expect more conventional story twists, and finally breaks with the "Evil Robot" motif so prevalent in the genre. I won't say how or why, but GERTY is much more important to the film than merely an obstacle for Sam when things get weird. I also found the references to Jesus' disciples interesting; Sam works alone on a Moon base for 3 year jobs, running harvesters named Mark, Matthew, John (although John is crossed out and replaced by a handwritten "Judas"). The recurring motif of 3's is also worth revisiting next time I sit down and watch it.

Sam Rockwell does some of the best work I've seen from him in years, although he frequently reminded me of Edward Norton for some reason. *MILD SPOILER ALERT* It may have had something to do with the persistent bruising and bloodying after the accident being vaguely Fight Club-esque, but even the "other" Sam was vaguely reminiscent of Norton.

The "twist", if you want to call it that, is handled quickly and in a rational manner. Almost as soon as you realize what's actually going on, one of the characters identifies the development and instead of trying to dupe viewers, Jones is smart enough to let the film play out. I admire both the story and Jones' direction, which lingers frequently, allowing you to soak in the details of the moon base and the minutiae of Sam Bell's world. There's some very impressive camera trickery to boot, which I won't risk spoiling.

I realize this review is probably quite useless, but I feel it fair to both recommend you see Moon but also not to tell you too much going in. Moon is the sort of film that works best when it happens to you, not one you should be trying to work out right away.

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