It’s been two years since Duncan Jones’ debut feature film Moon (2009) hit cinema screens and there’s been an air of excitement and anticipation for his follow up ever since.

A bold directorial debut, Moon displayed Jones’ formal and tonal talents as a filmmaker. Its effective use of abrasive sound and an incredibly isolating mise-en-scene were on par with its intense ethical questioning; a film brave enough to offer conviction without resolve.

Cementing his position as a filmmaker worthy of critical and popular attention as well as paving his path as an auteur, Jones’ follow up film, Source Code (2011) continues to explore the scope of the hybrid sci-fi thriller.

In the opening title sequence the film soundly and succinctly announces its preoccupation with natural and unnatural effects of human advancement on a given landscape by showing a built city, a natural terrain and the thing that bridges the gap between the two – essentially science and engineering, combined with the physics of time and space – here illustrated beautifully by a moving train.

Source Code is the story of a soldier, Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is repeatedly sent back into an eight-minute loop on a commuter train that, at the end of each eight minutes, blows up. His mission is to locate the bomb and the person responsible for detonating it. Each time he comes out of the loop he has mere moments to report back his findings before being sent in again. Much like science itself, his questions lead to more questions and the answers are always insufficient.

Jones’ explorations in this film are not limited to the construction behind scientific and systematic repetition, nor are they limited to the moral and ethical implications of engineering a system that employs a human being as one of its key mechanisms. Instead, Source Code opens up a plethora of questions about the utility, possibility, and accountability of a constructed manipulation over organic and intangible ideas – such as time, space and a concept of humanity.

The film’s protagonist bears many resemblances to Moon’s Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell); both men serve their country because of a sense of honour and responsibility; both men are disoriented and subject to a repetitive isolation the origins of which they can never quite recall. Neither of them know whether they’ll ever get to go home once their “service” is complete; but more than that, their interaction with the world is expressly carried out via some form of technology and, as both men have gaps in their understanding of themselves and their missions, their quest for the truth is far more painful than the isolation that came before.

A thoughtful, provocative and intelligent piece of filmmaking, Source Code is an engaging and affecting experience in the first instance. Let down a little by a slightly more conventional and therefore “cohesive” ending; Source Code confirms Jones’ talents not just as a filmmaker but also as a philosophical artist.

Opens in cinemas on general release May 5 2011.

Other cinematic highlights in May include the St Kilda Film Festival, returning this year to Melbourne’s iconic Astor Theatre (May 24 - 29) and Melbourne Cinematheque’s Alain Resnais season at ACMI (April 27 – May 11).

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