MOON

If the cloud bursts thunder in your ear,
You shout and no one seems to hear,
If the band you’re in starts playing different tunes,
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon…

That classic bit of prog rock sums up my last bit of DVD watchin’ quite nicely I’d say!

Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an employee of Lunar Industries who is the sole person manning a station on the moon that is harvesting a new energy source and shipping it back to earth. He’s in the tail end of a three year contract, and it’s in these last two weeks that things start to get a little strange up there.

MOON is the sort of film I gravitate towards. It’s the kind of story that shows an actor’s mettle given that Rockwell has very little else to play off (in a perfect world, he’d land a Best Actor nomination tomorrow). It’s actually no small wonder that I’m drawn to the film since it’s also a rather sombre and dreary story, helmed by first-time-director Duncan Jones. Strangely though, even though the running time is a rather svelt 90 minutes, I felt it dragged a bit in the beginning of its final act.

My expectations of this film were an odd beast…after all Univarn did call it the best movie he’d seen this year. For me, it couldn’t dislodge THE HURT LOCKER from the top slot – nor would it cause me to re-jig my top five. However, I can see what Univarn liked about it so much, especially how its subtelty and introspection speaks so beautifully.

While it didn’t completely knock me out, I must admit – I do wish I’d seen this movie in the dark seclusion theatre. Given the plot, it would likely have been a more apropos experience!