I love sci-fi movies, and there are plenty I’d recommend, but I want to call out what I consider one of the best science fiction films in the last decade: Moon (2009).
If your experience with sci-fi films is limited to expansive adventures, like Star Trek, you’ll find Moon very different. It’s quiet, spare, and melancholy. The action is confined to a commercial lunar station and its surroundings. The station is staffed by one human, Sam Bell, whose only companion is a robot named GERTY. Even Gravity, which also has a limited cast and which takes place mostly in Earth orbit, is wildly different from Moon given Gravity‘s thrill-a-minute pace.
Sam, played by Sam Rockwell, is less than a month away from the end of his three-year contract to work on the moon. His only connection with Earth is through pre-recorded messages; the communication satellite was damaged, and his employer never seems to get around to fixing it. In fact, the company seems downright cheap: GERTY, who sports a tiny screen that displays simplistic faces to suit his “mood,” looks run down and hardly seems to be a suitable companion for a lonely human. He has a boxy main “body” and two disconnected arms, all of which travel on tracks along the ceiling, limiting the robot’s movements. Voiced by Kevin Spacey, GERTY feels more like Hal 9000 than C3PO or even the odd but lovable robots from Interstellar.
The score suits the movie perfectly. Like the setting and cast, it is relatively spare. The main theme is a beautiful, almost minimalist tune played primarily on a piano; whenever I’ve finished watching the film, it’s hard for me to remember that I heard anything besides one instrument and a repetitive melody.
It would be easy to give too much away about this film; in my opinion, it’s best for viewers to go in knowing as little as possible. Do not watch the trailer; it gives away key elements of the plot. Just know that the movie is captivating and thought-provoking and a little sad — much like Arrival. When I finally persuaded my daughter to view it, she scolded me once the movie was over for getting her to watch something sad; I asked, “But did you like it?” and she said, “Yes, but I didn’t expect…” I’ll go no further with that thought. Instead, I encourage you to find a copy of Moon and enjoy sci-fi that may be a little outside of what you have seen before.