For complicated stories about the relationship between man and AI, stream I Am Mother and Moon

Nowadays, streaming options and contradictory recommendations are so numerous that it's hard to see through all the bullshit that you could watch. Every Friday, The edgeThe Cut the Crap column simplifies the choice by sorting out a multitude of movies and TV shows on subscription services and recommending just one thing to watch this weekend.

What to watch

Moon, an independent science fiction drama from 2009, was co-written by Nathan Parker with director Duncan Jones, who made his debut as a director. Sam Rockwell plays the role of Sam Bell, a contract employee working for an energy company on an almost fully automated lunar complex. At the end of his three-year term, Sam is the victim of an accident. During the recovery process, he inadvertently discovers that almost everything he had been led to believe about his mission was a lie. Fearing for his life, Sam spends his last days on the moon performing a captivating cape with the help of his robotic assistant GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey).

Why look now?

Because the independent science fiction drama I am a mother is now available on Netflix.

Co-written by Michael Lloyd Green with director Grant Sputore – they also make their debut as a director – I am a mother stars Clara Rugaard, a teenager who has spent her entire life in a bunker, maintained by a robot called "Mother" (voiced by Rose Byrne). The machine subjected "Daughter" to a series of rigorous intellectual and physical tests to prepare her for the challenge of leading a new breed of humans created in the laboratory, destined to repopulate a post-apocalyptic Earth. One day, an injured and unnamed woman (played by Hilary Swank) knocks on the door of the bunker, bringing new dangerous information that may or may not be true. Suddenly, her daughter does not know if she can believe everything his mother has told him.

I am a mother is wonderfully performed and presents an impressive mix of CGI and puppetry, creating a sense of visual wonder and likeliness that is rare for a movie that is almost entirely in a covered location. The story also encourages the audience to guess everything, with a story full of surprising twists, including one at the end that may not be fully recorded until the viewer think about it later. In short, it's a thought-provoking piece that poses the biggest question about the long interwoven story of man and robot: who really programmed who?

This is a fairly common theme in speculative fiction, which often considers the intimate and complicated relationship between people and machines. In the cinema, the tastes of Forbidden planet, 2001: The Space Odyssey, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Her, and Ex Machina have all bet on the emotional and practical attachments that humans can have with their super advanced devices and vice versa. And then there are the terminator and Matrix franchises, which have taken a broader and more dystopian view of the future of technology.

Moon also has a rather bleak view of the direction towards automation and artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, the interactions between Sam and GERTY are an important part of the film's appeal. The first 15 minutes of the film follow their daily routine. Sam, very practical, ensures that everything goes smoothly while bouncing on a robot, which never reacts in a uniform way and with faces amusing and simplified, similar to emoticons. Even before the plot begins, Moon creates its own credible little world populated by the kind of kind man who could give viewers hope for the future – if only to know that the human spirit can endure in the worst conditions.

For whom is this?

Smart and curvy science fiction fans and Sam Rockwell.

Because Rockwell has been so celebrated in recent years – win an Oscar for Three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, nominated for another Oscar for Vice, sure to be nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the recent Pit – It is easy to forget that during the first two decades of his career, he worked in relative obscurity. Rockwell has been loved by attentive moviegoers for his memorable support in the likes of Galaxy Quest and The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Fordbut he was not so well known to the general public. Ten years ago, Moon was a rare role featured for Rockwell. As the only human being on the screen for much of his life, he proved that he was able to do more than just add hilarious and strange energy to a set.

Casting Rockwell in Moon was a master stroke because its earthly presence helped to make the lunar base with clean lines and blindly white more alive. This is necessary for this story because when Sam Bell discovers that his house for three years is not what he thought, his sense of disorientation must be pronounced. Uncertain of his reality, he is obliged to rely on the GERTY, untrustworthy. Although Moon is a suspenseful and sometimes very funny movie, with a deep alienation in its center, while a worried man looks at the empty face of his robot friend and wonders what's really going on in this electronic brain.

Where to see it

Netflix. The service also includes the eccentric hybrid science fiction / neo-black Duncan Jones. Mute, a movie that will please the crowd less than Moon fans could still find it rewarding.