Moon – 2009 | 97 mins | Sci-Fi | Colour

Plot Synopsis

David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, previously known as Zowie Bowie, makes an assured directorial debut with this thoughtful psychological sci-fi study of isolation and corporate exploitation that harks back to the 1970s science fiction films that inspired it. Jones exudes a light touch and crafts an intelligent story that is endearing and ultimately both heart-rending and optimistic. Sam Rockwell drives the story with an excellent display of passion and wit as the lone mining engineer stuck incommunicado on the dark side of the moon.

Set in the near future. Astronaut Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the end of his contract with Lunar Industries. He’s been a faithful employee for three long years. His home has been Selene, a moon base where he has spent his days alone, mining Helium 3. The precious gas holds the key to reversing the Earth’s energy crisis.

Isolated, determined and steadfast, Sam has followed the rulebook obediently and his time on the moon has been enlightening, but uneventful. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Taped messages are all Sam can send and receive. The solitude has given him time to reflect on the mistakes of his past and work on his raging temper. He does his job mechanically, and spends most of his available time talking to “Gerty,” (Kevin Spacey) the base’s well-intentioned computer, and dreaming of his imminent return to Earth, to his wife, Tess, and their three-year-old daughter, Eve, and an early retirement.

But two weeks shy of his departure, Sam starts seeing things, hearing things and feeling strange. Sam’s health starts to deteriorate, and when a routine extraction goes horribly wrong, he discovers that Lunar have their own plans for replacing him and the new recruit would appear to be his clone. Confined to the base with what appears to be a younger, angrier clone of his earlier self, and with a “support crew” on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what’s going on and where he fits into company plans.