Moon

Take the entrancing, all-white production design and thrilling score of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the psychology of Solaris and the energy-mining subplot of Outland, and you have Moon, an ethereal and philosophic new entry into the sci-fi lexicon. The film opens with a corporate promotional ad for Lunar Industries, a company that mines the surface of the moon in order to provide the energy-deficient world with Helium-3, a nuclear fusion power source. With just two weeks to go on his three-year work contract, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has grown weary of managing his lunar outpost alone, and is ready to return home to his wife and young daughter. The only company he has comes in the form of GERTY, a mobile robot with a smiley face signal (voiced by Kevin Spacey). However, just as he’s about to be freed, Sam starts experiencing visions of various women – is it space dementia? – that cause him to crash a Lunar Rover. When he wakes up in the infirmary, GERTY informs him that he may have experienced brain damage from the crash. Sam’s left incredibly languorous as he limps around the station, but his solitude soon comes to an end with the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Is he another one of Sam’s visions? Is his arrival timed to the expiration date of Sam’s contract? Is GERTY gonna go all HAL on Sam? It’s a compelling journey by co-writers Nathan Parker and Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie), who is also making his directorial debut after helming a string of infamous commercials. But Moon is, first and foremost, a celebration of Mr. Rockwell’s acting talent. The project was conceived specifically for Rockwell, and he commands our attention in every single scene. He’s never been better. It’s a poignant turn that – and I hate to use the cliché – you will ponder long after you’ve left the theater. This deliberately-paced, restrained, and unpretentious sci-fi flick is the anti-Star Trek, and one of the finest genre entries in recent memory. – Marlow Stern, Manhattan Movie Magazine Trailer