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 | computer | accident | contract | 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 [us] Sony Pictures [jp]

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

(at around 13 mins) There is a shot of the magazine 'Take Off' on the shelf while the camera shows in bed. This magazine was an episodal, collectors aviation magazine in the UK in the 1990s.

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Goofs

They are harvesting H3 on the far side of the moon, but a few times the Earth can be seen in the sky near the base. Since the moon does not rotate (relative to earth) there is one side where the Earth is always above the horizon (the side facing earth) and one side where the moon is always below the horizon (the side that points away). The Earth cannot be seen from any part of the far side. The Earth is always below your feet.

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Quotes

Talk Show Host: You know what, he's one of two things. He's a whacko or an illegal immigrant. Either way, they need to lock him up. Line two!

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Crazy Credits

At the very end of the credits, the film copyright is credited to Lunar Industries Inc. Lunar Industries Inc. just happens to be the corporation featured in the film.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Daybreakers/Leap Year/Youth in Revolt (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Ripples"
Written by Benjamin Wallfisch
Published by Carlin Production Music

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.