Now that the Avatar juggernaut is heading into the Oscars, I thought I’d post a quick note about two very different SF movies: Avatar and Moon.
I saw Avatar the week after it opened, in 3D. Having actively avoided the 3D versions of movies the past several years, I was somewhat apprehensive about seeing this in RealD Cinema, but it was truly amazing. Not only did Cameron not go for too much of the “spear coming out of the screen” effect, leaving the whole thing to just look, well, three-dimensional, but the overall visual nature of the film was just spectacular. The kind of movie you want to see more than once so that you can spend more time “looking around.” Way, way cool.
Moon, on the other hand, is way on the other end of the VFX spectrum. In fact, they even used some very old-school techniques for their exterior shots.
So, okay, big differences between the two in their visual presentations. Avatar, unsurprisingly, is nominated for and likely to win a whole slew of technical Oscars. Moon, not so much. But here’s the other enormous difference between the two: Moon actually has an interesting and original story. You really, really care about the characters. You get caught up in the story. There’s actual, you know, drama. The script isn’t simply a convenient container for a series of VFX shots and action, but something that draws you in and causes you to invest yourself in the outcome. The ending actually has an impact on you. In fact, and in a whole number of ways, Moon‘s story is an example of some of the very best things good SF storytelling has to offer.
So: Best Picture for Avatar? I don’t think it even deserves a nomination from a story standpoint, but financial numbers do have an impact in the nominations and voting, as do pure audience numbers. In those categories, Avatar really is the 800-pound gorilla. I just wish, in my usual tilting-at-windmills way, that movies like Moon would get more popular recognition. They are, at their core, much more fulfilling than big-budget VFX-fests like Avatar.
(On a related note, why no “Best Actor” nod for Sam Rockwell? I’ve never been a fan of his, but his work on Moon was really impressive, especially if you know anything about the practical, behind-the-scenes aspects of his performance.)