I've been on a bit of a film binge lately as the bookshop life slowly settles down after it's first month and I adjust to life of weirdness involving getting up in the morning time when the sun is low in the sky.
I was sat in the bookshop when my brother (@looptron) tweeted about seeing 'Moon' by Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son and on twitter as @manmademoon) and it reminded me of when I first heard about the project on the BBC when Talking Movies covered a 'sci-fi indie film' being a rarity.
At the time, I was impressed with how good the sets looked. I had no idea of the story or who was who at the time.
I heard nothing else about it for about 18 months and then suddenly it's out, in London. I immediately go to find out where it's on near me and find out that it's in Portsmouth - boo. So it was time to see if Harbour Lights was going to show it - they seemed to be reading my mind when I called up and they said they're just confirming it on the website and it starts on Friday. YES!
What a film. Micro-budget, limited release and more importantly and brilliant story.
Brilliant Stories are awesome. They're one thing that many films often lack as the 'cool' factor of the look of a film overshadows it. Brilliant Stories are what keeps Charlie Kaufman alive (Synecdoche, New York still enters my waking brain from time to time and makes me smile).
So to do a quick review of Moon it goes like this: Moon rocks. Sam Rockwell deserves many statues. Duncan Jones deserves a brilliant career and Kevin Spacey has never cried so realisitically. :)
Then you get to The Man From Earth.
Once again, BRILLIANT STORY!
It was actually the story being described to me by my friend Liam that made me immediately get on to Play.com and order the DVD. 'It's one house where some friends are saying 'goodbye to a guy who suddenly reveals to them he's 14,000 years old...it's just not made very well'.
I'm, like, WOW! That sounds incredible. My mind sparking at the possibilities of the title character's life. I tweeted it with excitement that 'I've just ordered The Man From Earth. Sound like a brilliant story that's badly made'.
That night I get back from the bookshop to find a DM from the Producer of The Man From Earth saying 'Sorry to hear you thought TMFE was 'badly made' - we had a micro budget and we did our best - but thanks for buying a copy'.
I wrote back instantly saying I was only going on what I'd heard and I hadn't seen the film at the moment in time.
Even so, for a producer to personally defend his work like that was a good sign for the film to be better than I thought when it arrived.
It arrived yesterday.
It is a Brilliant Story. That's for sure. And it's a great cast. It's written by Jerome Bixby who was responsible for some of the best Star Trek original series scripts (including making up the Mirror Universe that brought a much needed darkness to the show) and Twilight Zone scripts etc. The Man From Earth was his final script and definitely explored some of the questions he may have had himself as he reached the end of his life.
I won;t go into details of the story other than just saying it's a genius premise and well worth seeing.
As for the production. It's not badly made at all. Far from it. There are no points in which the production get in the way of the story. There are some clangers of lines I'd have lopped out of there or changed just to sounds a little less awkward in certain actor's mouths - the lighting and the camera work are perfectly acceptable.
But I think that's the problem with it. It's a made for TV type movie.
In the DVD extras they talk about how they needed so many different things to make the week-long production work at the location. Expensive trailers for the cast and there seems to be a massive crew for such a generic final visual result.
There is no gravitas given to the performances thanks to generic cinematography. I won't mention the them song written for the end credits.
But in the end it's not a film to cherish no matter how much I enjoyed it - thanks to the production values.
It doesn't feel like a piece a work that was cherished, despite the claims on the DVD extras.
This is probably put down to Union rules and the standards that the industry puts on itself with regards to who should work on a film set. There was too much money spent behind the camera and not put in front of it.
Which is a monumental shame.
Moon and The Man From Earth are very similar beasts. Both great stories, both with burgeoning directors at their helms. Both with small budgets.
The difference between the two is simply passion.
Robert Rodreigez's book 'Rebel Without a Crew' left a lasting impression on how movies can be shot for $7000 and how the problems of film can be solved by, and inspirational of, creativity.
When you've removed problems by just throwing money at them it removes the need to think around a problem and make ingenious changes.
TMFE is not badly made at all. It just happens to suffer from a serious case of having too big a micro budget.
Would love to see this film in the hands of penniless film students.
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