2009 AFI Dallas Film Festival - Moon

(UK, 2008, 97 mins)
35mm
Directed By: Duncan Jones

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. He combats monotony and isolation by tending to plants 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 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.

Information from the festival's website