So I’ve been laid out by the flu for this past week, which generally means misery, kleenex, boredom, more misery, sleeping and watching tv to distract myself from the misery. Did I mention misery? I had one small bright spot during this week and that was finally getting to knock a few titles off of my Netflix Instant Streaming Queue. One of those movies was Moon, directed by Duncan Jones.

I’ve been intrigued by this film for a while, but for some reason, never got around to watching it. I think part of it was that the trailer makes the film look like a complex psychological thriller. And ya know. . .sometimes your not in the mood for a complex psychological thriller. Sometimes you just want to see shit blow up and the guy kiss the girl and know that a guaranteed happy ending is coming.

Well, the trailer was not far off. The movie is dark. It is subtle and it definitely does not follow the standard movie formula. The film is an impressive visual achievement. It borrows heavily from the aesthetic of 2001, but in a way, that gives it a certain authenticity. The effects and set design are stunning(especially considering the entire film budget was $5 million). The soundtrack is haunting. And Sam Rockwell carries the film with his performance. He basically IS the film. It’s mostly just him(and more him. . .) and the robot(narrated by Kevin Spacey) and the dynamic between the two.

Science fiction. True, hard science fiction is a rare thing these days in film. And while this film didn’t make a lot of money, I hope you watch it and tell your friends to do so. Maybe, more work like this will see the light of day. Because God knows we need more of this and less Transformers sequels.

Take a gander: