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MoonInternational Narrative Feature FilmsUnited Kingdom, 2008, 97 mins., color Nearing the end of a three-year contract with Lunar Industries, Sam Bell is counting the days until his return to Earth. The lone occupant of a lunar mining base, Sam monitors the tractors that harvest the moon’s surface for helium energy. Buoyed by sporadic transmissions from his wife and young daughter, he combats monotony and isolation by tending to plants, continuing his predecessor’s woodcraft project, and interacting with the station’s robotic computer, Gerty. But Sam is beginning to unravel mentally. After a hallucination causes him to crash his lunar rover, he wakes up in the sick bay and soon realizes that his life at the base is not what it seems.Moon is a refreshingly philosophical and ultimately touching indie inflection on a genre that too often loses sight of character and story amid the wizardry of its special effects. In confining the story to one man (and his robot), director Duncan Jones and writer Nathan Parker create an intimate and insightful character piece about memory and identity anchored by Sam Rockwell's perceptive performance; he brings out the heartache, contradictory emotions, and existential terror of a man gradually stripped of the most fundamental sense of who he is. So for all the creativity of its visual design and technology, Moon is less about outer than it is about inner space.
CAST Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Benedict Wong, Matt Berry, Kaya Scodelario, Malcolm Stewart Duncan Jones - Duncan Jones got his professional start as a wild-cam operator for director Tony Scott. He went on to work as an assistant director for Walter Stern and became the resident film director for the computer-games company Elixir Studios, all while shooting low-budget promos, short films, and commercials in his hometown of London. He worked with Trevor Beattie on successful and sometimes controversial ad campaigns for McCain, Carling beer, and French Connection. Moon is his first feature film.
Screenings:
Fri. Jan 23 6:15 p.m. - MOONN23CE Eccles Theatre, Park City Sat. Jan 24 9:00 a.m. - MOONN24CM Eccles Theatre, Park City Sat. Jan 24 9:30 p.m. - MOONN24GN Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC Sun. Jan 25 1:00 p.m. - MOONN25SA Screening Room, Sundance Resort |








