Inner space, man: 'Moon' is psychological thriller about being inside your head a long way from home

In the near future, astronaut Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) is living on the far side of the moon, completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Helium-3, Earth's primary source of energy. It is a lonely job, made harder by a broken satellite that allows no live communications home. Thankfully, his time on the moon is nearly over, and Sam will be reunited with his wife and three-year-old daughter.

He will at last leave the isolation of "Sarang," the base that has been his home for so long, and he will have someone to talk to besides "Gerty," the base's well-intentioned but rather uncomplicated computer (with voice by Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey).

Suddenly, Sam's health starts to deteriorate. Painful headaches, hallucinations and a lack of focus lead to an almost fatal accident on a routine drive on the moon in a lunar rover. While recuperating back at the base (with no memory of how he got there), Sam meets a younger, angrier version of himself, who claims to be there to fulfill the same three year contract Sam started several years before. Confined with what appears to be a clone of his earlier self, and with a "support crew" on its way to help put the base back into productive order, Sam is fighting the clock to discover what's going on and where he fits into company plans.

Moon is eerily inspirational, a visual think piece directed by Duncan Jones, David Bowie's son, no less.

Starts Friday, July 3 at the Main Art Theatre, 118 S. Main St., Royal Oak.