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Far Side of the Moon

EMAILPRINTTLA Releasing

Far Side of the Moon reviews
76
9.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 9 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 6 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  Foreign

Written by: Robert Lepage

Directed by: Robert Lepage

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 2, 2005
DVD: April 4, 2006

Running Time: 105 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Robert Lepage, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Marco Poulin, Céline Bonnier, Gregory Hlady, Richard Fréchette, Lorraine Côté, Sophie Faucher, and Érika Gagnon

Childhood memories and the race to the moon by two rival nations are recurring themes in this feature film exploring reconciliation and the fundamental question of whether we're alone in the universe. (TLA Releasing)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

An achingly eloquent rumination.

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90

Village Voice Mark Peranson

Reworking his own raw material, Lepage spins a rich, moving film that acknowledges humanity's power to break out of Earth's daily gravity; in the process, he leaves audiences floating.

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88

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Rarely do adaptations of stage plays work on screen, and almost never do they work as well as this one does. Most remarkably, the dryly comic "Moon" is virtually a one-man show.

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80

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Based on Mr. Lepage's play of the same title, Far Side of the Moon carries traces of the theater both in some of the dialogue and in its schematic construction. That said, it has been beautifully shot by the cinematographer Ronald Plante in the kind of high-definition digital video that makes the future of cinema look rather less grim than usual.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

A master class on turning a talky, one-man play into a visual delight.

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70

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This began as a one-man show, but Lepage has transferred it beautifully to the screen, where its cosmos of ideas hangs weightless.

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63

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Like many stage-to-screen projects "Moon" loses something in the journey from the planet Theater to the planet High-Def Video. Yet Lepage is such an interesting camera subject, you stick with this dreamy rumination even when the going gets arch.

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63

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Lepage maintains a leisurely pace and lets the narrative wander, but ultimately lands on the right side of the line between contemplative noodling and aimless navel-gazing, ending with an image that's simultaneously melancholy and playful.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

Well made, but it's a talkfest that wears its stage origins on its sleeve.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Paula M. gave it a9:
Funny movie, dry, intelligent and strangely moving. Robert Lapage wrote, directed and played both brothers. He looks down on the pet goldfish suspended in solid ice and immediately asks his brother Phillipe over his phone: "sushi?" The movie is not a fast mover but it has plenty of rewards.

Chad S. gave it a7:
In spite of being on the talky side, "Far Side of the Moon(from Canada it came), as a cinematic proposition(I spy "Leolo"), is completely successful in concealing its theatrical roots. This filmmaker, I think, takes his visual cues from the late Jean-Claude Lauzon(plane crash casualty; he also made "Night Zoo"), especially when the fluidity of time is demonstrated in same-frame transitional shots thatt ties the past and present as a seamless whole. "Far Side of the Moon" is partly about the sad life of an academic(it's also partly about his gay identical twin, a weatherman), and indeed there is something pathetic about being so doggedly hard-wired to investigate irrelevance down to its textual core, its minutia, as a way of earning a place on the high-end side of obscurity. Phillipe(Robert Lepage), albeit smarter than your average bear, is a hack, an intellectual mediocrity(who's interested in how science plays a part in the popular culture). Railing hard against narcissism without a hint of irony, Phillipe is seemingly unaware that there's nothing more self-involving than being in love with your brain. He has issues with the moon(read: a mirror, narcissism's pusher friend). Contemplating the failed scholar's face framed in the spherical window of a washing machine is representational, I think, of Phillipe from the moon's perspective; his near side(Phillipe's visage, his good side) is the far side(the side facing the moon when he peers into the night sky), the bad side, synonymous like the moon's own far side that's bombarded by meteorites(read: slings and arrows hurled from the infamously thorny academic community) from the third planet's point-of-view. Late in the game, Phillipe is redeemed by an outsider group which validates his theory, and confirms the viewer's suspicion that the washing machine window is representational of the nocturnal orb. "Far Side of the Moon" can sometimes be on the dry side, but its ambition is admirable and not the least bit gratuitous.

Brutus gave it a9:
I saw this by mistake - the film I came to see was cancelled and this was screened instead. But I am so glad I did see it. I know nothing about LePage (though I am now looking into it), but this film charmed me. Touching, and sometimes very funny, the movie wears its art-house aspirations on its sleeve, but was never dull. And it has the best soundtrack (Led Zeppelin fans, take note) and slyly witty use of fantasy special effects I have seen for some time. The sequence with the goldfish was particularly hilarious! I gather this started off as a play - but for me it very much worked as a movie. An unexpected delight.

ales s. gave it a10:
This is UNDOUBTELY the best film of the new millenium.all of the words are weak against this pure poetry of moviemaking.monsieur lepage is renaissance person par excellence.remember it please.

Unagiboy gave it a9:
Moody and sensual. Lepage's camera work made this a great art film.

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