BAFTA Debuts: Moon (2009)

In partnership with the Independent Cinema Office, we look back at the work of British directors who have won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut.

 

Before his blockbuster successes, Duncan Jones launched his career with Moon, rejecting the CGI heavy, action-packed sci-fi of recent years for a quiet tale of identity and isolation. Cut from the same cloth as genre classics like Silent Running and Alien, Moon is an engrossing, intelligent sci-fi thriller.

 

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the completion of his 3-year-long contract with Lunar Industries, mining Earth's primary source of energy on the dark side of the moon. Alone with only the base's vigilant computer Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey) as his sole companion, Bell's extended isolation has taken its toll. His only link to the outside world comes from satellite messages from his wife and young daughter. He longs to return home, but a terrible accident on the lunar surface leads to a disturbing discovery that contributes to his growing sense of paranoia and dislocation so many miles away from home.