MOON

Sci fi movies: MOON is the first feature film by David Bowie's son. It's an intimate and beautiful sci-fi thriller that has already won awards and is being ranked with Alien, Blade Runner and 2001...

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Sam Bell (as played by Sam Rockwell from Frost/Nixon) is nearing the completion of his 3 year-long contract with Lunar Industries, mining Earth's primary source of energy on the dark side of the moon. Alone with only the base's vigilant computer Gerty (voiced with superbly eerie monotony by Kevin Spacey) as his sole companion, Bell's extended isolation has taken its toll. Will he ever return home? Can he trust his computer, who is by his side whether he wants it or not, and expresses emotion only through the display of comedically simplistic emoticons on its viewing screen? Sam's only link to the outside world comes via satellite messages from his wife and young daughter. He longs to return home, but a terrible accident on the lunar surface leads to a disturbing discovery that contributes to his growing sense of paranoia and dislocation so many miles from home.

Forget the exciting popcorn flash-bang of Star Trek and its like: MOON is a thrillingly intimate sci-fi movie. At the heart of its story is one man struggling with loneliness, self-destruction and ultimately - in a way we shan't go into for fear of plot spoilers - loving himself. With a sparsely beautiful music score by Clint Mansell (Pi), MOON bravely (and wisely) skips the CGI to go for a more weighty and textured approach. The special effects and lunar environment in MOON really on exquisit lighting and models. It's done so well that the end result is more realistic than over-produced CGI could ever be, and encourages in us a love affair with the gloriously lonely moon itself - and with the Earth, seen floating unattainably from a distance.

MOON is an engrossing, intelligent sci-fi thriller that ranks with genre classics like Alien, Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And you can see their influence. Sam Rockwell deserves an Oscar for this one - there are so few actors that could have been versatile enough for a role like that of Sam Bell. MOON's award-winning director is relative newcomer Duncan Jones, better known as David Bowie's son Zowie (yes, really). He's clearly grown up with a love of the hypnotic realities of space in 2001, and the poignant, vulnerable characters of Blade Runner, and he's probably equally fond of thoughtful psychological thrillers like Memento.

The MOON DVD is worth picking up, not only because it's a wonderful movie, but also because the extras include a 20 minute short thriller also directed by Duncan Jones that's good enough to merit watching on its own. A real treat for those who like their sci-fi with a touch of story - and never quite trusted HAL in the first place.

If you're still not convinced, go to the wonderful MOON website where you'll get a real feel for the sound and atmosphere of this movie, and also win prizes if you play a game to guess Sam Bell's location on the moon.

Interview with Duncan Jones

MOON is such an assured movie, you'd never believe it was Duncan Jones' first feature film. In honour of his esteemed father, we shall henceforth refer to talented director Duncan Jones as 'the man who fell to MOON'...

How closely did you collaborate with NASA? What kind of insights did they provide to you about lunar landscape and the effects that kind of isolation that can have on someone?

Most of my interaction with NASA was after we finished the film and it was incredible. A professor at the NASA space centre in Houston, Texas heard the film involved helium-3 mining on the Moon. We sent him a version of the film to watch and he loved it. [It turns out that after we made the film we found out] NASA are actually investigating the idea of helium-3 mining on the Moon.

Did you get any feedback from them on the isolation that you explore in MOON?

I had the opportunity to talk to three different astronauts after the film was finished. And one of the things that they mentioned was that they felt the sort of work-a-day atmosphere felt pretty accurate as far as just the repetition and the jobs that you actually end up doing on the Moon are not always the most exciting work a lot of the time.

Can you tell us about your inspiration for making MOON?

Yeah absolutely. I had the chance to meet up with Sam Rockwell about three and a half years ago with a different film that I wanted to make with him and he loved the script but wanted to play a different character than the one I was hoping he would play. So we met up to try and convince each other - and that didn't work out but we got on very well and we just started talking about the kinds of films we both loved. And there was this period of science fiction films in the late seventies and early eighties, films like Outland and Silent Running and Ridley Scott's Alien, about blue collar working people in space. So I left that meeting and decided to write a film like that for Sam and that's how it all started.

In terms of the visuals and themes in the film, how much of MOON is your brainchild?

There was this period of films in the late seventies and eighties, the work of guys like Douglas Trumble and Peter Hyams and Syd Mead who gave those films, that kind of gritty, chunky, industrial look. Their science fiction had a very different aesthetic to science fiction today. For the exteriors, the lunar landscape was inspired a book of lunar photography by a guy called Michael Light, who basically collated and cleaned up all of the 70 mil photography from the Apollo moon missions.

How did Kevin Spacey become involved in MOON?

We managed to get the script to him because he works down at the Old Vic Theatre here in London, and he loved the script and he's a huge fan of Sam Rockwell and was very keen on the project. When we told him what the budget was and he saw what the concept artwork looked like he was a bit nervous and kind of backed off and said "why don't you go and make the film without me and then come and show it to me when you're done". So that's what we did. We made the film without him and we showed it to him and I think he was so very pleased. But he was so overwhelmed by Sam Rockwell's performance; I think that's what really won him over.