"It's the Earth Not the Moon," Directed by Gonçalo Tocha "It's the Earth Not the Moon" is an extended voyage to Corvo, the smallest and northernmost island in the Azores, a spit of land in the middle of the Atlantic. Defined by the extinct volcano that looms over it, and populated by a single town of 440 people, Corvo, nominally part of far-off Portugal, is on Europe's western edge. The film, directed by Gonçalo Tocha, begins at sea while he is approaching Corvo, pledging in soft, reverent tones to document "every house, every street, every workplace and every corner of the island." This impossible conceit is swiftly discarded (if it was ever truly intended); instead we get a more conventional travelogue of a remote port of call. Still, Mr. Tocha, whose earlier "Balaou" involved a sailing trip from the Azores, knows he's onto something. Every island holds a history of civilization. We don't get much of one here, just what the oldest residents remember: subsistence farming, yes, but whaling as well. "Sometimes we'd kill seven or eight whales a day," one man boasts. Rather, there's the friction and trade-offs that development brings. Younger residents insist on better services and more money from Lisbon; a village manager shows plans for a performing arts center. Old ways remain, but they are fading. Knitting Mr. Tocha a cap, one woman notes that the wool had to be imported, since islanders no longer raise enough sheep to supply their own. The film's leisurely pace seems to capture the rhythms of island life. Though often random in its organization - Mr. Tocha slides from contemplative seascapes and misty meadows to a slaughterhouse and the Corvo landfill - this portrait is still much more than a snapshot.