Another Earth is a powerful sci-fi drama with a plot that hinges on the recent discovery of a second earth (Earth 2). If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’ve probably at least watched the trailer, which points us towards the second chance elements of the film. I’ll do my best to try not to spoil too much of it for you.
The movie opens with a series of rapid shots of Jupiter from Voyager that feel “alive, breathing and hypnotic,” the way that Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), our main character, feels about what’s out there. Rhoda is a bit of a dreamer at 17, with a recent MIT acceptance and a world (or worlds) of possibilities ahead of her. We see her driving in her car late at night, carefree, windows down, hair blowing. She’s stargazing and we’re shown this through the reflection in her mirrors. This is one version of Rhoda, a reflected self. A spare. What other versions of her would come next?
It’s hard to say a lot here about what changes in Rhoda’s existence without giving away important pieces but, if you’ve seen the trailer, then you know there must have been some sort of accident. You know that she seeks redemption for it and she meets a man-John Burroughs-who was involved in the accident. I won’t tell you in what realm this happens but the trailer shows the two developing a bond. But are second chances always a blessing?
The life-changing accident happens in the first few minutes and the next time we see Rhoda is four years later when both she and the world has changed dramatically. Scientists have discovered Earth 2 (the joke is that they probably don’t call themselves that) and, as it turns out, there’s an essay contest to win a trip to visit the “mirror Earth.” Rhoda dreams of the possibilities and enters with high hopes of escaping the reality in which she is entrenched.
It took me awhile to be won over by Marling (who also co-wrote the script with director Mike Cahill) in the film but there are a few key scenes that seal it for me. One such standout is a scene where Rhoda goes to visit a co-worker who has been hospitalized. He’s an old janitor who can barely even move enough to clean tables or sweep the floors and we get the impression that he hasn’t had the greatest life. So Rhoda curls up in his hospital bed with him, each of them understanding each other with little more than a gentle touch. I won’t give away that mutual understanding, but it’s definitely powerful and the emotion was the most palpable feeling I’ve gotten from a film in some time. If you’re a crier, then you probably don’t have a chance with that one.
Another scene where Marling shines is when she tells Burroughs (William Mapother), a story about a Russian cosmonaut who ventured into space and was nearly driven mad by the ticking that he heard on his journey. As Rhoda, Marling tells the story carefully and convincingly, with a hint of sensuality. As the story goes, the cosmonaut has to learn to fall in love with that ticking sound and, as a viewer, I found myself doing the same for Rhoda’s character. She’s a bit mesmerizing. You can feel that she has endured heartache and you’re drawn in.
The music of the film, by Fall On Your Sword, was great, adding a new element to the tragedy and suspense of Rhoda’s story. The strings were a great accompaniment to the intensity of communication with Earth 2, to Rhoda’s struggle with her conscience and to the tenderness that the film brings. Where there’s pain there’s music, and the camera shots complement that grief with choppy and rapid images, keeping us from the burden of looking too long at the reality that Rhoda faces.
Another Earth touches on the fear and excitement of the unknown, Plato’s cave allegory, redemption, betrayal and the fine line between selfishness and altruism. It’s not perfect by any means but what it does offer is a bit of a fresh look at sci-fi. There’s so much to say about the film but so much you wouldn’t want to read until after you had seen it yourself, which makes writing the review I want to write and the one I should write different things. It’s a film that I felt started to drag a bit early on and I feared it would become predictable. Luckily, I was proven wrong. You have to be a little patient with it, view it as a whole and then just let it digest. I left the theater dreading the fact that I still had to face the rest of my day. I felt its immediate impact as the credits rolled and I wanted to just sit and dwell on it. It left me feeling pensive and now I just want to talk about it with someone rather than try to write about it carefully. For instance, there’s a scene that shows a doomsayer with a sign that declares “Spare Us” that suggests to me both the dystopian possibilities of a second earth while at the same time pointing to the extra versions of everyone that exist in another space, almost as a spare, a backup. I wonder what you’ll think. I wonder what another version of me would think about it. My guess is that you’ll wonder about some of the same things. I give it 3.25 stars.
Another Earth runs all week at the Art Theater and select times next week. Check out the schedule for exact times.