images © Sony Pictures
Set on a lunar outpost run by a solitary astronaut, its pared-down aesthetic and cerebral tone offers a refreshing alternative to the bombastic mayhem of Transformers 2 and Wolverine. Not only that but it was shot in only 33 days, a fraction of the time it took Michael Mann to make his period crime epic Public Enemies.
In every way, then, Moon is a wholly different kettle of fish to the movies it’ll be sharing multiplexes with this summer. For many, however, it will be a welcome throwback to the days when science-fiction was the realm of ideas: a time when, in looking to the heavens, filmmakers could contemplate man’s place in the universe and how space-age technology would impact upon the societies of the future.
Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Douglas Trumbull’s Silent Running are just a few of the movies Moon recalls as it uses its hero’s plight to probe issues of identity and humanity. Its bleak vision of a mechanised environment where human life is cheap also reminds us of Blade Runner and Alien, Ridley Scott’s game-changing contributions to the sci-fi genre.
Great Trailer, Shame About The Film!
images © Sony Pictures
The fact that Moon is such a rarity, though, says a lot about where sci-fi has gone since it could last be seen as a serious mode of expression. Ever since Star Wars the tendency has been to revel in juvenilia and escapism, turning the galaxy into an inter-galactic thrill-ride populated by swooping spaceships, laser battles and outlandish monsters. Yes, Lucas and his followers made these stories exciting and enthralling, constructing elaborate universes and landscapes that were a world away from our humdrum existence. Yet in infantilising the genre they also infantilised the audience, rearing an entire generation of cinemagoers on a diet of simplistic fables and empty effects.
The realities of moviemaking make it difficult to veer from this formula, which over the years has been successfully expanded to encompass the fantasy and comic-book pictures no studio can now be without. Moon, however, shows there is still a place for lo-fi sci-fi which targets the brain cells and makes the viewer an active participant in an intellectual exercise, rather than a passive receptor of flashy stimuli. Yes, some might find it a touch talky and pretentious, with model work and sets that would appear primitive even by the first Star Wars’ standards. For those who don’t mind being teased, provoked and a little toyed with, though, it comes highly recommended.
The question is whether Moon is an ingenious anomaly or the start of a new lo-fi wave. Is there an audience for the kind of quirky individualism it represents? Or is it destined to be a sad one-off, championed by the passionate few and shunned by the apathetic many? We will have to wait and see.
