Moon (2009)

Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

Director:

Duncan Jones

Writers:

Duncan Jones (story), Nathan Parker

Stars:

Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 21 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sam Rockwell	...	Sam Bell
Kevin Spacey	...	GERTY (voice)
Dominique McElligott	...	Tess Bell
Rosie Shaw	...	Little Eve
Adrienne Shaw	...	Nanny
Kaya Scodelario	...	Eve
Benedict Wong	...	Thompson
Matt Berry	...	Overmeyers
Malcolm Stewart	...	Technician
Robin Chalk	...	Sam Bell Clone

Storyline

Sam Bell has a three year contract to work for Lunar Industries. For the contract's entire duration, he is the sole employee based at their lunar station. His primary job responsibility is to harvest and periodically rocket back to Earth supplies of helium-3, the current clean and abundant fuel used on Earth. There is no direct communication link available between the lunar station and Earth, so his only direct real-time interaction is with GERTY, the intelligent computer whose function is to attend to his day to day needs. With such little human contact and all of it indirect, he feels that three years is far too long to be so isolated; he knows he is beginning to hallucinate as the end of his three years approaches. All he wants is to return to Earth to be with his wife Tess and their infant daughter Eve, who was born just prior to his leaving for this job. With two weeks to go, he gets into an accident at one of the mechanical harvesters and is rendered unconscious. Injured, he ...

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Plot Keywords:

earth | contract | computer | accident | harvester | 

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Taglines:

The last place you'd ever expect to find yourself

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Classics [United States] Sony Pictures [Japan]

Country:

UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

17 July 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Kuu

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£157,867 (UK) (17 July 2009)

Gross:

$5,009,677 (USA) (13 November 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Liberty Films UK, Xingu Films, Limelight Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the galley, the shelf is marked 'Soylent'.

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Goofs

After the fight scene, when second Sam drops first Sam out of the headlock, the first Sam places his right hand on the ground, and it does not have the bandage that he was wearing moments before. Seconds later it's back again. Before the drop first Sam's palm full of blood can clearly be seen, before he brings his hand to his nose, and his nose is not bloody until he does.

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Quotes

GERTY: Sam, I can only account for what occurs on this base.

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Crazy Credits

The letters in the credits at the beginning of the movie, are sitting parallel to the surfaces that are shown and are also casting shadows/reflections on these surfaces.

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Connections

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.10 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"One and Only"
Written by Nik Kershaw
Performed by Chesney Hawkes
Published by Imagem Music
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd

User Reviews

Small in scope, Grandiose in concept

While book racks are brimming with thought provoking, high concept science fiction, the movie genre tends to be populated by invading aliens, intergalactic wars, and adventure, which makes Director and co-writer Duncan Jones' Moon that much more of an oddity.

Not since Steven Soderbergh's much overlooked 2002 rendition of Stanislaw Lem's Solaris has a movie firmly rooted in the sci-fi realm delivered reflections on the human condition, which Moon does deftly.

It tells the story of Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), the only inhabitant of an automated lunar mining base extracting Helium-3 from lunar rocks to be shipped back to Earth to fuel the energy starved planet.

Sam's isolated three year posting is about to come to an end and he longs to return to Earth to see his wife. His only company throughout this sojourn has been that of Gerty, the base's HAL-like robot voiced by Kevin Spacey. Unfortunately, the final weeks and days are proving to be the most difficult, and Sam finds himself going a bit squirrelly, leaving both he and the audience to wonder if what's unfolding is actually happening, or merely a drama taking place in his addled mind.

That's about as much plot detail as I'm going to deliver, for to delve any deeper into the story would give too much away. Be prepared, however, for a thought provoking narrative that touches on issues such as scientific ethics, corporate greed, human identity, and compassion.

There are no aliens, lasers/phasers, wormholes, warp engines or jump drives here, just a lonely space age concierge, an unflappable monotone robot, and a whole lot of fodder for your brain to chow down on.

This is what science fiction was meant to be.