Moon (15)

Directed by Duncan Jones
Written by Duncan Jones (original story), Nathan Parker (screenplay)
Screening at FACT from 1st-14th August 2009

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

This is a superb British sci-fi film by Duncan Jones, son of David Jones aka David Bowie, who himself had a fascination with all things outer space.

Producing on a low budget, Jones 'borrows' from classic sci-fi movies, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Alien, but nevertheless there is still a lot of originality in the film, particularly in the sections dealing with human clones, corporate greed and clean energy.

Technician Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the end of a three-year stint on the moon, where his main activity is mining Helium-3.

But strange things begin to occur when he crashes his moon buggy and nearly dies. He is rescued by a younger version of himself and his sense of alienation grows ever deeper. Each thinks the other to be a clone of himself.

With a distinct nod to the talking computer HAL from 2001, Sam’s companion is GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey), a robot which becomes ever more domineering and devious with the human.

Moon raises a lot of questions about human existence, loneliness and the role of authority in our lives. The film is old fashioned in some ways - this is meant to be complimentary - but I reckon it will become a recognised classic.

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