Perfect Casting, Perfect Performance #3
Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell in Moon
The last two editions of this feature, I had two pretty iconic actors and performances showcased. For the third edition I have chosen a film which was released last year and what I consider to be easily the best performance of 2009. Moon is a small indie film which has kind of gone under the radar and it is almost a crime that Sam Rockwell has not gotten more recognition for his role in this film. I have always been a fan of Sam Rockwell, he is a great actor. The role of Sam Bell is easily his best, I was blown away by this performance. This as I stated in my Moon review is the perfect example of Perfect Casting, Perfect Performance.
I really can not picture anyone else in this role, and I honestly do not think anyone could have pulled this role off the way Sam Rockwell did. Sam Bell is a complex character, and the role is a challenging one. Here is a man who has been alone with just a computer voice for three years on the moon. If that was me, I would have gone crazy after a few weeks. You can see the cracks starting to show. The way Sam shows this in his performance it really does affect you as a viewer. You feel his pain, you really feel his longing to get off there and go back home. It isn’t often when an actor can really make you feel what he feels, and it isn’t just once off, it is through out the entire film. From start to finish he is this character and you feel every second of it.
I really can not picture anyone else in this role, and I honestly do not think anyone could have pulled this role off the way Sam Rockwell did. Sam Bell is a complex character, and the role is a challenging one. Here is a man who has been alone with just a computer voice for three years on the moon. If that was me, I would have gone crazy after a few weeks. You can see the cracks starting to show. The way Sam shows this in his performance it really does affect you as a viewer. You feel his pain, you really feel his longing to get off there and go back home. It isn’t often when an actor can really make you feel what he feels, and it isn’t just once off, it is through out the entire film. From start to finish he is this character and you feel every second of it.
Now this is going into spoiler territory but Sam Rockwell successfully played the multiple characters as well, and you actually believe that there is more than one of him. We’ve seen the one actor play different roles in a film, and their interaction between the characters can make or break a film. If you aren’t convinced it does not work (I think back to the great performance of Cate Blanchette in Coffee and Cigarettes), but it works just too well here and I really thought they had cloned Sam Rockwell and he was playing the different roles. It is truly amazing what Sam Rockwell and Duncan Jones achieved with Moon, and I do believe this performance is going to be one that will stick with me for a long time.
