10 Comments
Jun 19, 2022·edited Jun 19, 2022

I loved Moon as a teenager and I still like it more than Casey and Anna, I think it has better pacing than some of the other movies we've watched. It's the only movie so far I didn't have to rent because I have a copy.

Movies with twists are interesting because doing a second watching will always be different from the first watching and theres lots of things to notice the second time around. But it also means whats happening is kind of wasted on the first time viewer and it could be more fun to let them in on it so it's the viewer waiting for the protagonist to discover instead of the director waiting for the viewer to discover? I know Passengers really suffered from this. Maybe first time viewers could chime in if realizing the twist was good?

Also listening to you talk about the quality of cinematography makes me realize that I have no idea what makes for good / bad cinematography and I'll be trying to think about that more going forward.

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For existentialism and ecologism I liked First Reformed by Paul Schrader. The filmmaking is extremely deliberate and the tone is consistent throughout. With Moon, I think I liked the scenes with a laid back atmosphere because it evokes an alternative, with a helpful robot, automated tasks, comfortable furniture... It reverses conventions of sci-fi movies where technology is mostly presented as frightening. But I think they tried to cover a lot of themes and they didn't develop that aspect that much. It's worth a rewatch, maybe some themes will resonate differently after reading the comments!

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May 30, 2022Liked by Anna Rettberg

Just watched this for the first time, and I share your frustrations. I think the premise is excellent and I like a lot of individual elements, but the pieces never really came together.

There’s a lot of raw material for an existentialist or anti-capitalist reading (which seemed like the obvious direction after that clunky exposition commercial), and the premise raises some interesting ethical questions, but neither the movie or Sam himself really engage with those ideas. That was more frustrating to me than any of the plot contrivances. I’d love to see what someone like Alex Garland (the writer/director of Ex Machina and Annihilation) could do with this.

That said, I did really enjoy just inhabiting the moon base and feeling the isolation. I think the movie nailed its tone, especially at the beginning before we meet the second clone. I didn’t mind the no-frills camerawork; it made it feel somewhat like a documentary, and that worked for me.

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I am that person. I love Moon the most out of all four movies from this month.

I like how it’s low-key instead of high drama, I find it more suiting its serious topic. We’re all dying, our existence has no meaning, everybody is alone, nobody asked to be created.

If you turn that into adventure or problem-solving it’ll contradict the main theme, and that’s what I like about it too — the form of the movie is completely in sync with its theme.

The wife call in the beginning feels fake because it is fake. If you make it more real then it’ll become a lie that needs to be resolved. But lying (or being lied to) is not the problem. Existence is the problem. Being alone is the problem.

Same with the ending. If you make it a puzzle to solve to achieve something, it’ll feel like death could have a meaning. But death doesn’t. At some point you realize that there’ll be no grand finale. You just die. And you learn to accept that.

Moon is a very grown-up movie. I’m so glad it exist. Hope you’ll learn to see its beauty just a little bit too.

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May 29, 2022·edited May 29, 2022Liked by Casey Muratori, Anna Rettberg

Gerty: Sam, is everything ok?

Sam: Yeah, it’s just my back is killing me. These space chairs are so uncomfortable.

Gerty: :(

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*Gerty browses web, finds comfy armchair with good reviews.* :O

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Thompson: Gerty, how many times do we have to say this? We can’t just send an antique leather armchair to space.

Gerty: I understand, but these are extraordinary circumstances, and the reviews are spectacular.

Thompson: *Sigh* Fine, we’ll send you the fucking chair, now get back to work.

Gerty: :)

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May 28, 2022·edited May 28, 2022Liked by Anna Rettberg

I kinda like that one, maybe more than you did! You are right it's not a great movie but I like the chill vibe of a few scenes and for a rewrite I would go even more into that direction. But I agree many plot points don't make much sense and overall it lacks cohesion. So even if it doesn't fit very well I like the ping pong scene and the antique chair. And minimalist scenes outside on the Moon made me think of a lego set I had when I was younger, happy memories! That said, I agree with your rewrite, especially regarding more connections between the clone and his family on Earth.

For the advertising-exposition, movies that make that work in my opinion are satires like Robocop and Starship Troopers. Television today is so caricatural that even if the director of Moon tried to make a serious introduction it feels like weird propaganda or something.

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Worth skimming through this article https://typesetinthefuture.com/2014/02/11/moon/amp/ !

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