Speculation on the anomie of the self-knowing human clone, a reasonable stand-in for the self-knowing human. Written and directed by the British team of Nathan Parker and Duncan Jones respectively, it’s a nice little piece of short-story-sized science fiction freighted with reminders of 2001 — some of Silent Running as well, less burdensome — and stretched out to just barely endurable length. As in its eminent forebear, the human cast is very limited, mostly Sam Rockwell in a dual role — at one point playing pingpong with himself in the same frame, at numerous points matching the ostentatious torment of Bruce Dern in Silent Running — supported if not upstaged by a talking computer called GERTY 3000 (smarmy voice of Kevin Spacey) instead of HAL 9000. A sufficient innovation in design is the emblematic Smiley Face that signals the computer’s “mood,” or alternatively a Frowny Face, Quizzical Face, or Noncommittal Face, every bit as expressive as the Jack-in-the-Box of fast-food TV ads. It’s quite astonishing how even the most modest-budget science fiction now approximates the nonpareil special effects of the Kubrick monument of forty years ago. (2009) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.