Moon

Morose and disturbing, Moon (2009) is a science-fiction film that, if not exactly entertaining, is, nonetheless, worthwhile in its modest, non-assertive way.  The film is reticent, makes its points quickly, and quietly and seems strangely non-declamatory -- there's an apologetic aura about the movie, as if it doesn't really want to disturb its viewers with the full implications of its plot, but, rather, seems reticent and suggestive -- the movie counts on those watching it to draw appropriate conclusions from its ascetic narrative.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) believes that he is a worker assigned supervisory duties at a lunar mine.  He works alone, aided by a robot named Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey imitating the suave, sinister, and ingratiating tone of Kubrick's HAL).  Sam is lonely and looks forward to being reunited with his wife at the end of his three-year contract.  But something seems wrong -- communications with Earth have failed and Sam seems oddly distracted.  When he goes out to service a mining vehicle, a "Harvester", an accident occurs.  He awakes in the infirmary -- strangely, the cut he received in the accident and a burn on his hand seem to have completely healed.  How much time was he unconscious?  When Sam goes to the site of the crash with the mining "Harvester", he discovers himself, severely injured in the wrecked vehicle.  He carries his own body back to the lunar station where he works and, then, when the injured man wakes up engages in a debate with him -- which one of us is the clone?  Ultimately, the two men discover that they are both clones and, in fact, just part of a series of workers stored in hibernation in the hidden bowels of the lunar station -- as one worker fails, another is brought on-line to replace his predecessor.  Although the point is never made explicitly, Sam (and the series of Sams) are just replacement parts, apparently designed with a three-year life expectancy -- when the loneliness and danger overcomes one clone, another is activated to take the old clone's job.  Their memories of home are artificially implanted -- a theme more fully developed in Bladerunner. This is an interesting premise, but it really can't go anywhere.  Working together, the two Sams discover the horrible truth about their existence.  They break down towers jamming communication with the lunar mining station and discover that, at least, 12 years have elapsed since the first Sam began his three-year contract at the mining operation -- Sam's toddler daughter is now 15 years old and his wife has died.  (There are holes in the narrative -- what were the people back on earth told about Sam's failure to return?  And, in fact, if there are multiple Sams, why not let the original guy go home?)  The dying Sam, at the end of his three-year "contract", is vomiting blood and losing his teeth.  He looks awful.  He volunteers to be deposited as a casualty in the wrecked "harvester" where he dies and the new Sam somehow gets shot home -- fired across space to land on the Earth.  This occurs under time-pressure as a group of thugs from the Corporation on en route to the mine to suppress the discoveries made by the two Sams.  In a final voice-over, Sam, who has reached Earth, is described as "either a wacko or an illegal immigrant, in either case he should be locked up."  Thus, the perfidy of the Corporation continues.

The movie is suitably austere, cold, and sorrowful.  Sam's physical deterioration, a little like the obsolescence built into the replicants ('skin-jobs') in Bladerunner, is shown in ugly detail.  The Harvesters are huge robot-trucks that throw off plumes of debris as they scarf-up precious rock for use in powering Earth -- the home-planet has run out of energy resources.  The special effects are sometimes charmingly tatty:  the moon locations look like models.  The film features an innovation:  the sinister-sounding robot is actually kind and generous -- in one scene, he comforts the injured Sam by gently stroking his shoulder.