Moon

Image courtesy of blog.spout.com

What: Film.
Director: Duncan Jones.
Actors: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott.
Where: At home on a spring afternoon (on DVD).

There are a few reasons why I enjoyed the Bafta’s award show more than the Oscars this year. The main reason being that our acceptance speeches put the yanks to shame. I cannot accept that my three favourite (Colin Firth, Jacques Audiard and Duncan Jones) were scripted but if they were then those guys should be getting Oscar nominations next year for acting improvisation.

The chic, French women who spoke in English on behalf of Jacques Audiard, after he chose to continue in his native tongue, delivered bohemian cool beyond anything LA could throw across the pond. But for a refreshing, genuine but modest realisation that he had hit the big time by doing something he so obviously loved, Duncan Jones got things spot on.

And so to his film Moon, which is a sad, disturbing but unique piece of film-making with a stand-out performance from Sam Rockwell. Rockwell seems to have deliberately managed his acting career to opt for credible roles and characters rather than picking big-paying Hollywood features. He most often appears as a supporting actor but here, even with very few other actors to ’bounce’ off, picks up the lead and runs with it with a real intelligence and precision.

The message hidden in this film predictably sits well to the left of the real power-message of recent times that we experience in The Hurt Locker (which overall is neither a pro or anti war film). But the film hints at capitalist, ethical and green issues we are likely to face as a human race in the long-term future. The finale neatly ties up loose ends and tells us in no uncertain terms that as humans there‘s not as much happiness to be found in following the crowd as leading your own life. Just like DJ himself has so clearly been doing in recent times.

Rating: 8/10
Comments: A great, British feature debut.

District 9

Image courtesy of gamespot.com

What: Film.
Director: Neill Blomkamp.
Actors: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James.
Where: At home (and hungover) on DVD.

With all the talk being of Avatar breaking every box office record in this or any other galaxy, there’s not been too much time to talk about other recent sci-fi films. But the academy recognised District 9 by nominating it for four Oscars including the big one, Best Film, which is high praise indeed.

The low-budget, amateur feel to the start of the film seems to work in the film’s favour to provide a credibility to the modern day Johannesburg we arrive in where aliens and humans live together. Sharlto Copley plays the main character whose job it is to evict 1.8 million aliens from the area known as District 9 and it’s been reported the actor improvised all of his dialogue for the film.

Like Avatar, a lone-human gets immersed in an alien world that, it turns out, is as, if not more, moralistic than the human-run earth. Where Avatar hinted at references to the wars fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, you get the feeling that the racial tensions that surfaced during apartheid may motivate the message that District 9 sends out.

Image courtesy of filmofilia.com

Although there’s a few questions unanswered come the end of the film, there’s a general sense of satisfaction and it’s clear that Blomkamp has left the door wide open for sequel to this originally shot film. Although this is more a directors film than one filled with great performances from it’s cast, it’s clear that Copley has hit the big time. We’ll be seeing him later this year in the Ridley and Tony Scott produced A-Team which is sure to strike gold at the box office.

Rating: 7/10
Comments: Pushing boundaries in the world of sci-fi cinema, District 9 gets it just about spot on.