Moon (2009)

Here there be spoilers

A film that suggests that the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Outland, and Blade Runner are now deeply infused in the DNA code of the science-fiction film, Duncan Jones’ smart, cryptic, slow-burning existential genre film portrays a near future in which humankind, or more specifically a monopoly energy company called Lunar Industries, are harvesting fuel for fusion technology on the moon. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the end of a three-year stint as roving repairman for the remotely operated harvesters, when his vehicle crashes into the rear end of a malfunctioning harvester. Sam seems to wake back at his base, under the tender ministrations of his guardian angel robot GERTY (voice of Kevin Spacey), without any memory of this incident, and this proves to be for a very good reason: it didn’t happen to him, but to another Sam Bell, whom he rescues, in spite of GERTY’s efforts to keep him isolated, from the wreck and brings back to the base.

Each Sam Bell accuses the other of being a clone, and each is a distinct variation on the same template, one still possessing the hot temper and brittle character of the younger Sam, the other, after his long stint, mellow and introverted. This conceit wouldn’t work without an actor of Rockwell’s calibre to potray two innately similar and yet subtly disparate humans, both of whom cling to the same memories of the wife (Dominique McElligott) and baby (Rosie Shaw) left behind on Earth and to whom they desperately wish to return.

Attempting to find a way to communicate with Earth, the two Sams venture out on the lunar landscape and find technology in place that blocks such communication, but one manages to get out far enough to make a phone call to his home, only to discover his wife is long dead and his daughter is now 15 years old (Kara Scodelario) and still living with her father, the real, unadulterated Sam. For the moon-bound Sams are both clones, two of many, treated as interchangeable parts just like the rest of Lunar’s technology, used until they break down (whether from shortened life-spans as clones or from radiation poisoning in the course of their job is unspecified). The Sams soon have to devise a way to survive and prove their humanity before a “rescue team” arrives to erase the mistake.

This bizarre set-up is infused with a forlorn compassion, and Jones thankfully plays it neither for overly self-conscious artiness nor as a gimmick thriller, but with a keen blending of methods in a firmly realised context. The illustrated disparities of the two Sams communicates without overt statement their essential humanity and thus, in spite of their being clones, the idea of any one Sam being an original more worthy of human dignity is dismissed. The Sams clash, at first in temperament and then even in physical violence, but finally this gives way to mutual reliance and care that is at one perfectly egotistical and perfectly altruistic: never before has the notion of no man being an island been described with such cunning. Indeed, the whole idea of what is human comes into question as new forms of sentience are introduced, as one of the Sams assures GERTY, who, in spite of obeying his company orders nonetheless remains utterly devoted to his charges, that “we’re not programmes – we’re people!”

These are familiar genre concerns, but Moon is distinguished by its simultaneous restraint and intensity. Jones’s storytelling seems often bewildering early on, but there’s purpose to this, in setting up a story that needs, in its initial phases, to be elusive in revealing just exactly what's going on. Whilst this requires the audience to work a little harder than usual in puzzling it all out, there is underneath the surface taciturnity a genuine charge of humanism which becomes all the more quietly urgent as the film proceeds. The deadpan humour, like older Sam’s jarring fondness for ‘80s pop and his aggressive dissembling towards his doppelganger in dancing goofily to “Walking on Sunshine”, is well-employed, but the film never topples over into quirk for quirk’s sake. As the Sams face hard choices that redefine the notion of self-sacrifice, Moon elevates from interesting teaser to a genuinely stirring tale, and more proof that cinematic sci-fi might be undergoing a true revival.