For the majority of moviegoers, “Moon” may have flown under the radar throughout the 2009 movie season, but the sci-fi psychological drama seemed to be a shoe-in for recognition at the Oscars. Nevertheless, when the votes were counted and the nominees were announced, the film’s name was nowhere to be found.
Directed by Duncan Jones, son of music legend David Bowie, “Moon” follows lunar miner Sam Bell, played by Sam Rockwell (“Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,” “Choke”) as he prepares for the end of his three-year solitary mission of harvesting minerals on the moon’s surface. Following an accident, Bell begins to uncover a mystery which could change his entire view of the world.
Accompanied only by a Kevin Spacey (“21,” “American Beauty”) voiced robot, Rockwell’s performance is both gripping and sincere. “Moon” manages to be interesting, suspenseful and innovative all at the same time. The film isn’t dragged down by the same heavy-handed metaphors that films like “Avatar” were unable to pull off, but “Moon” still retains meaning and impact.
Traditionally, sci-fi movies have had an uphill battle for Oscar recognition, but this year’s snub is almost tragic. A similar example might be the 1968 Oscars in which Stanley Kubrick was denied the Best Director award for his masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Unfortunately, this comparison is still too generous because, “Moon” wasn’t fortunate enough to be nominated for any category, whereas Kubrick was at least on the list of nominees.
The argument that genre films are traditionally underrepresented in the Oscars can’t hold water this year, as both “Avatar” and “District 9” have received multiple nominations, including the inclusion of both for Best Picture.
If a film like “Avatar” wins Best Picture or Best Director it will only emphasize the lost opportunity for an independent and inventive sci-fi film to reach the highest pillar of film success. While visually stunning, “Avatar” lacks the originality and sincerity found in “Moon.” While both fall under the same genre, the two films couldn’t be farther from each other in terms of tone, atmosphere and intention. Regardless of their advantages, without mass promotion and support, no film can expect to receive the critical attention it deserves.
Recently, some scrutiny has been placed on Sony Picture Classics, the studio who purchased “Moon” following its screening at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. In a Twitter post by director Duncan Jones, he explained his efforts to have Oscar consideration copies of the movie distributed.
“We’ve knocked heads. They [the studio] have chosen the films they are backing & we are not in their plans,” Jones said. “They say it costs too much for our little film as they would need to be water-marked copies as our DVD isn’t out yet in the US.”
As a small independent film, “Moon” was only seen by the few fortunate enough to view it during the very limited time it spent in select theaters and without being distributed to the Academy, the film stood little chance of receiving a nomination.
Attempts have been made to bring attention to the film including an online petition for Sam Rockwell to be nominated for Best Actor for his solo performance in “Moon.” Needless to say, the petition failed, but not before garnering nearly 3,800 signatures including prominent names like “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau and sci-fi writer Neil Gaiman.
Unfortunately, the nominations are in and “Moon” isn’t going to receive an Oscar. Even though it’s not going to receive recognition from the Academy, word-of-mouth spreads fast and the number of “Moon” fans is steadily growing. Hopefully, the film will have a second wind on DVD.