Moon (2009)

At a glance:
Sam Rockwell excels in a challenging role as the slowly-going-mad man trapped in a long-term solo assignment on a moon base

Our review (with spoilers):
Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) works alone in a small base on the moon, collecting helium for a global energy company. From inside his control center, he checks the status of three automated mining harvesters. For company, he has Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey), a computer sidekick who attends to his culinary and technical needs. He occupies his time by carving intricate miniature cities from wood, tending to his plants, running on a treadmill, and sending and receiving video messages to his comely wife and young daughter back on earth. It’s understandable that he’s going crazy: he is two weeks away from the end of a too-long three year stint at the base. He starts to see imaginary people, and this distraction causes him to crash his lunar rover. When he awakens, Gerty is attending to him in the infirmary and is using Eliza-style psychology to assure him that he is okay. When Sam is back on his feet, he gets curious about why one of the harvesters has stopped working. What he finds when he investigates further is something he was not supposed to ever see, and it will change his perspective on the world forever (I know, that sounds like a tagline, but I want to be careful what I say here).

Rockwell’s soliloquy starring role tasks him to create a number of different yet linked personas. What a great opportunity for him – and you can imagine that a large number of male leads would have been clamoring to be cast in this part.

Clint Mansell’s evocative music forms the perfect backdrop for this unusual saga.

Rating:  3 of 4

Other reviewers said:
"This is science fiction at its stimulating best."
- David Stratton (At the Movies [Australia])