"The moon was a character in the film," David Sington says of his out-of-this-world documentary "In the Shadow of the Moon."
Of course, the movie gleams with NASA's famous images of moon and earth that have proved so popular lately on digital home video. But "Shadow of the Moon" is built around the interwoven memories of the Apollo mission astronauts, now wisemen in their 70s. Via their testimonies, the moon does seem to come alive -- sometimes as a magical place; sometimes as a dark alien presence.
Apollo 16 crewman Charlie Duke recalls a Kubrickian dream in which he followed mysterious tracks across the lunar landscape until he came upon a motionless moon rover. Duke walked over to one of the two space-suited astronauts in the vehicle and lifted open the face shield, coming face to face with himself.
"I saw myself dead on the moon," Duke recalls. "It was probably the most vivid dream of my life."
Moviegoers who raved about "In the Shadow of the Moon
Sington, who does an outstanding commentary with his editor and the archive producer, says what made his film special was the time the astronauts spent doing the witness-style interviews. "The biggest challenge was convincing them we needed two days, not two hours. ... (That's how) a real intimacy built up."
Of the surviving Apollo spacemen, only Neil Armstrong declined to particiate. Duke, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell are the chief raconteurs, but all of the men share beautifully crafted stories.
The film allows a lot of its archival footage to play out in the condition it was found, with splotches and flashes becoming part of the fabric of the film. In scenes leading up to the fatal Apollo 1 fire, the negative's flaws seem eerily foreboding. The raw-feed feel contrasts with the elegant cinematography used for the interviewees.
A lot of the astounding launch footage was shot at ultra high speeds for engineering purposes and had not been made public before. The filmmakers use much of it in slow motion.
Sington and his fellow British collaborators freely discuss their various fudges and sleight-of-hand methods, such as combining shots from several of the Apollo missions while implying they came from only one. The filmmakers are big believers in "artistic license." Archive producer Chris Riley's tales of hunting down footage --forgotten NASA reels or the time-capsule stuff from 1960s media -- make for terrific commentary.
Audio and video come as a mixed bag, of course, but the jaw-dropping space shots and the score come across with due power and clarity.
Also orbiting the DVD blog's players this week are the "Stanley Kramer Film Collection
Pick of the week: In the Shadow of the Moon
Dog of the week: No Reservations
New and notable:
Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners -- 26 Nominees (Warner)
Becoming Jane (Miramax)
Blade: The Series (New Line)
Blue State (MGM)
Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 4 (Fox)
Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav (Paramount)
Dallas season 8 (Warner)
The Equalizer (Universal)
Family Ties season 3 (Paramount)
General Hospital: Night Shift (Disney)
George of the Jungle original series (Classic Media/Genius Products)
Gone Baby Gone (Miramax)
In the Shadow of the Moon (ThinkFilm)
Joan Crawford Collection, Vol. 2 (Warner)
Lubitsch Musicals (Eclipse/Criterion Collection)
Martian Child (New Line)
Peter's Friends (MGM)
Stanley Kramer Film Collection (Sony)
We Own the Night (Sony)
Why Did I Get Married? (Lionsgate)
Complete list of today's DVD releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org
Will (when) this every appear on Blu-ray?
I just learned it was released on HD DVD, but that format is now so dead as to make it unrealistic to go buy just for this movie. Sigh.
Posted by: Jim Cook | November 02, 2008 at 02:50 PM