Moon (2009) ****
The last time I watched Duncan Jones's Moon (2009) was in 2016, not long after his father died, as part of a "Bowie" double feature with The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). I've seen the film four times now, including in the theater on its original run and now on UHD, which is the best looking presentation I've experienced yet.
Jones's scientifically plausible, melancholic mood piece eschews the overly common action tropes of science fiction films in favor of the the emotional journey that one character (sort of), Sam Bell (brilliantly portrayed by Sam Rockwell), experiences on a moon mining base. Bell's AI companion GERTY acts as the anti HAL (of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) fame). Where HAL carried out its mission no matter what the human cost, GERTY aids Bell in every way, when Sam decides to expose certain discoveries about himself and his purpose on the base. Instead of robots being the source of fear, as in so much of science fiction, humans are actually the most dangerous concern.
Clint Mansell's gorgeous and incredibly somber score, along with Cliff Martinez's score for Solaris (2002) (another strong and deeply ponderous science fictioner), remains one of my favorite scores of the last 20 years (in general, not just for a sci-fi film). It stands on its own as a beautiful collection of musical pieces, even outside the film.
While I did deduct a half star from my rating of the film this time around, I do still think that, 10 years along, Moon is one of the best sci-fi films of the past 25 years and just an excellent film in general.
Jones's scientifically plausible, melancholic mood piece eschews the overly common action tropes of science fiction films in favor of the the emotional journey that one character (sort of), Sam Bell (brilliantly portrayed by Sam Rockwell), experiences on a moon mining base. Bell's AI companion GERTY acts as the anti HAL (of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) fame). Where HAL carried out its mission no matter what the human cost, GERTY aids Bell in every way, when Sam decides to expose certain discoveries about himself and his purpose on the base. Instead of robots being the source of fear, as in so much of science fiction, humans are actually the most dangerous concern.
Clint Mansell's gorgeous and incredibly somber score, along with Cliff Martinez's score for Solaris (2002) (another strong and deeply ponderous science fictioner), remains one of my favorite scores of the last 20 years (in general, not just for a sci-fi film). It stands on its own as a beautiful collection of musical pieces, even outside the film.
While I did deduct a half star from my rating of the film this time around, I do still think that, 10 years along, Moon is one of the best sci-fi films of the past 25 years and just an excellent film in general.
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