Another Earth

With a cover that boasts the best shot in the entire film, and really, the only good shot in the entire film, ANOTHER EARTH is a film that, from its title, should be about this other earth. Hell, the main character, Rhoda (Brit Marling who also co-wrote the film), is a past astrophysicist, but she never really lingers on the other Earth except for the fact that, what, it's a given? Rhoda, after partying one night, hears on the radio while driving home of the discovery of the other Earth, brilliantly dubbed "Earth 2". Searching the skies, while driving, for the apparition, she crashes into another car, killing the wife and son of a music composer named John. John is sent into a coma for four years, and Rhoda is sent to jail for four years. Upon her release, she seeks John out, who is now living in his house alone and dejected. She attempts to confess to him who she is, but chickens out and ends up being his maid. The two start up a relationship however, and things grow more complicated. All this time, Rhoda is supposedly dreaming of Earth 2, and a chance to visit it, for we learn that it is almost an exact copy of our own Earth, but that some events may differ on it. This gives Rhoda the hope that perhaps the accident she caused on this Earth, didn't occur on the other one. But thoughts like this just detract from the relationship between Rhoda and John. In one scene, John throws her out of the house, and when she comes back, we see them talk for thirty seconds or so in darkness, as if even now the filmmakers are afraid to delve very deep. Actually, Earth 2 is just one big, vague conceit. The film ends without us ever really delving into that either, and so that just leaves us to think that ANOTHER EARTH is just about the act of thinking about a second chance. But the way the film ends suggests that there is a payoff, we just don't get to see it because it would be too complicated a scene for Director Mike Cahill and actress Brit Marling to write together. It makes the whole film a big disappointment, because it never follows through on anything.

★★ out of Five