Duncan Jones and Moon continue to shine a light – Duncan Jones at the BFI Q&A 31 August 2010

Note: I regret that the videos have now been deleted at the request of the BFI.

I am a big fan of the movie Moon – if you were to ask me why I could give you a list of reasons as long as my arm. I’m a sucker for scifi – adore it, can’t get enough of it – but that’s not the reason. With Moon we have a movie on such a small budget that it had to be made before it could be finished. In order to win over composers (Clint Mansell) and actors (Kevin Spacey), risks had to be chewed whole and a near complete version produced in order to leave potential contributors in no doubt that this was a film that they had to be a part of.

There’s little CGI as we know it. Moon takes us back to the old days of models and miniatures and, while these are easier to identify on the theatre screen than on the TV, they merely add to the feeling that here we have a movie from the old fashioned movie school of storytelling. The plot, dialogue and mood are so strong, you believe what you see and you don’t need those distracting little extras.

There are few actors but they carry the film on their shoulders. Or rather he does – Sam Rockwell. I know Sam Rockwell from relatively small parts in other movies, such as the expendable red-shirted Guy in one of my favourite films Galaxy Quest, as Zaphod in Hitch Hikers and, later, the higher profile role as the badman Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2. Clearly, these bigger roles are an inevitable result of Sam Bell. You know an actor’s done good when, as you watch it, you have no idea of any other roles, past or present. And Rockwell has the even harder task – he has to act both halves of the whole.

Sam Rockwell pulls off something special with Sam Bell – there is enormous vulnerability here. The need to be wrapped up, secure, in this isolated world where communication is shown to be a false tie to back home. Watching Sam build his models, have his hair cut, touch his photos, you can understand how hard it must be for Sam to realise he is not unique.

But talking of emotion, for me it’s the expressions on the smiley face of GERTY that rules here. Kevin Spacey’s voice is exceptional and instantly recognisable (love K-Pax by the way) but there is so much power in that smiley face as it turns to grief, sadness, tears. We expect the computer to be hostile but GERTY carries around the dirty cups, wears the post-it notes and even takes that extra cyber step, risking oblivion.

Moon was a remarkable debut for Duncan Jones, not least because he completed the film with no guarantee that it would see the light of day. No wonder then, that all these months on, Duncan continues to promote it as much as he can. It is still opening in countries around the world (Poland this week) and even now there are opportunities to see it on a big screen. I had one of these this week. On 31 August Duncan Jones and his old housemates took to the stage of the BFI in London to present their unique film and to to talk about how it came together.

It was an extremely receptive and completely packed audience. I was fortunate to make the front row and, in the company of fellow Duncan, Moon and Rockwell lovers, enjoyed the film on a very large screen, followed by an entertaining Q&A. The video of the entire Q&A fills this post. I hope you enjoy it.

Until Source Code.