THIS THOUGHT-PROVOKING ‘SPACE ODDITY’ REMINDS US THAT SCIENCE FICTION CAN INVOLVE NOT JUST ACTION AND HARDWARE, BUT ALSO CHALLENGING, CEREBRAL IDEAS.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the end of a three-year stretch as the lone supervisor of a lunar mining colony when a freak moon-rover accident lands him in the sick bay. When he wakes, he has no idea how he got there, and his calm companion computer, Gerty (voiced by a typically droll Kevin Spacey), is not much help: ‘Sam, I am only able to account for what occurs on the base.’ Soon after, Sam encounters an intruder who looks exactly like himself. Is he hallucinating or is this apparition real — a clone of his younger, angrier self, perhaps? Rockwell is quirky but captivating as both himself and his alter ego, as Duncan Jones’ $5 million dollar Indie movie poses the intriguing question: if you met you in person, would you like yourself?

Nathan Parker’s knowing script is candidly reminiscent of the Golden Age of adult science fiction, drawing upon such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Outland. Old school miniature models are seamlessly blended with CGI enhancements to create a credible, utilitarian environment, where the disorientated Sam slowly unravels while dreaming of being reunited with his wife and three-year-old daughter back on Earth. The son of pop singer and self-styled ‘cosmic yob’ David Bowie, Jones is admirably serious but not without a sense of comic irony: Sam’s wake-up call is Chesney Hawkes’ catchy pop song I Am the One and Only. — Nigel Floyd.