Uncompleted Works

This past weekend I went to the New York City opening of Duncan Jones‘ Moon downtown at my favorite theater, Sunshine Cinema.

There are plenty of great reviews of the film and interviews with director Duncan Jones. The buzz around Moon is burning white hot, there’s plenty out there to sublimate your media desires. As I often do, I’d like to explore my own personal experience as it relates to the film. I find this is a better way to connect with the work than a traditional review.

Moon is a film that readily plays with preconceived notions about what a science fiction film is or should be. As a jaded movie goer and screenwriter, I’m weary of the same contrived story twists that appear in movies. When I first saw the trailer for Moon, I was genuinely impressed. It has been a long while since simply watching a trailer got me excited to see a film. I was even more excited when I learned Duncan Jones would be on hand for some Q&A after the screening.

My science fiction chops were cultivated through American re-runs of Doctor Who. As such, I wasn’t expectant of over the top or flashy special effects. Just a good and engaging story that didn’t insult the audience. (On the literary side of things, I was reading things like Ender’s Game and The War Against the Chtorr.) Over the last twenty years, science fiction in television and film has fractured into countless sub-genres. The value of a good science fiction film has eroded as the marketplace is inundated big budget tent poles that look pretty but lack substance.  As an example, the “Space Opera” has enjoyed much time front and center. I’ve always felt there are better and more interesting stories to be told outside of warring factions in space and ship crews.

That is partly why Moon instinctively appealed to me. The story was smart and didn’t talk down. A sense of ambiguity played in favor against a set of preconceived notions that have manifested themselves in the movie going consciousness. However, it is hard to talk about the story beyond its synopsis, as there is a bit of magic that I don’t wish to ruin for others. By the way of “back to basics” story telling, Moon epitomizes sci-fi staples like Outland and Silent Running. There is an intensity and a level of energy that looks at real plausible science in a Carl Sagan-esque way.

When it came time to open up the floor for questions, I dutifully wrote down a detailed question. When called upon I could not find my paper! (Later, I’d find my question, it was about the revision process that screenwriter Nathan Parker went through.) So, I asked Duncan Jones to speak about the process leading up to his feature film. What was his planned trajectory? How did he position himself to move to the next level? Jones’ answer was a sensible one. He went to film school, leveraged himself in music videos and advertising, doing as much in the advertising world as possible to ready himself for a feature film. His ad for FCUK (not a typo, that’s French Connection UK) garnered quite a bit of attention in the UK as it featured two beautiful women in a martial arts brawl who then kiss.

The highlight of the evening, however, was when I briefly met Duncan Jones one on one. Ahead of me was a young Australian film student who was grilling him on “the next step.” Duncan was grateful, polite, and dare I say, humble. Always eloquent with my oratory skills introduced myself and said “I fucking loved” his film — I’m articulate like that! We talked for a bit, I gave him my card and thanked him for his work.

And so my evening ended standing next to a film director that I believe will make some great professional traction in the coming years. Go see Moon. You won’t regret it.