The Far Side of the Moon

Name: The Far Side of the Moon
Genre: Drama
Released: December 2, 2005
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 76

2005

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Ratings

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Far Side Of The Moon

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Movie Details & Credits

Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm | Release Date: December 2, 2005

Summary: 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)

Director: Robert Lepage

Genre(s): Drama

Runtime: 105 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael Rechtshaffen

An achingly eloquent rumination. Read full review

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. Read full review

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. Read full review

V.A. Musetto

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

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. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine 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. Read full review

Walter Addiego

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

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User Reviews

aless.

Dec 5, 2005

Moody and sensual. Lepage's camera work made this a great art film.

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Brutus

May 16, 2006

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 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.… Expand

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PaulaM.

Sep 10, 2007

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.

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ChadS.

Apr 14, 2007

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 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.… Expand

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