In 2009, Director Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie) made his debut with “Moon” and proved that there is still creative fuel left within the sci-fi genre when placed in the right hands. The film won the 2009 award for Best British Independent Film and won a 2010 award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the “Outstanding Debut by a British writer, director, or producer” award. “Moon” stars Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell, who has a three-year contract for mining “Helium-3” on the moon all by himself. He’s accompanied by his robot companion, GERTY, who’s voiced by Kevin Spacey.
The film begins with Rockwell ending his three-year contract, anxious to return home to his wife and daughter, when he then experiences a strange crisis while on a reconnaissance outing. Upon realizing one of the harvesters has crashed, Sam goes to investigate, finding a wounded man involved in the accident, himself.
From the previews of this film, I got a “Twilight Zone” feel from it, but this film is way more than that. It sadly and undoubtedly is a buried treasure for film goers, premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and only being released in select theatres in New York and Los Angeles.