The Moon and Back – Review

This film was screened at the 21st annual Tallgra

Grief and family dynamics are often a complicated matter. Add in teenage uncertainty and hormones? That’s a recipe for dynamite. While there’s nothing in Leah Bleich’s feature debut The Moon and Back that I haven’t seen before I can safely say I haven’t seen it done in this manner.

Peter Gilbert (Nat Faxon) is dead. Cancer may have taken him away but he’s left behind his wife Diane (Missy Pyle) and his daughter, Lydia (Isabel May). A year of grieving hasn’t exactly fixed things for the two women, with Diane becoming bristly and Lydia driving her to it with rage and nihilism that cannot be contained. As the two work through the process of moving, Diane packing and Lydia unpacking, they discover the unfinished script for a space opera on Peter’s computer. Lydia recruits nerdy former friend Simon (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) into to helping her pour her heart and soul into realizing his production on film.

I’ve seen a lot of movies about making movies, from ones that are direct to those that are merely thematically about making movies (you can search for takes on Inception on your own). Bleich has crafted one of few that is directly about the struggle of making a film for the first time. Much of that comes from not knowing what the hell you’re doing and Isabel May conveys that frustration with such specificity you’d think she had experience (she does). What could simply be silly is instead a powerful look at what it’s like to be young, interested in film, and lacking pretty much any support.

Tone can be hard. I found pretty much all of The Moon and Back to be charming, touching, and hilarious in a way that stayed on the right side of cringe. That said there is some serious whiplash that occurs at points in the film that are difficult to ignore. Multiple cliche jokes are dropped into the film as direct cuts from something more grounded, clearly intended but so jarring that they did not land for me. Erratic tonal shifts can work but for me it bogged down what is an otherwise sweet and intelligent script.

When the credits rolled I wound up having a good time. Missy Pyle is excellent as always, Gutierrez-Riley perfectly embodies the awkward high school dork, and the VHS flashbacks to Nat Faxon hang heavy over the film to keep things from becoming too silly. This is, however, all Isabel May’s show and her sincerity seals the deal. This doesn’t work without someone like her in the lead role, maybe not without her specifically. The Moon and Back may be a bit messy but it’s heartfelt, sweet, and an excellent first feature from Leah Bleich.