Another Earth

Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach
Directed by: Mike Cahill
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A young woman (Brit Marling) struggling with a tragic mistake feels a sense of hope when a duplicate Earth emerges in the cosmos.

Review:

Tim: Another Earth is interesting, and not always in a good way. I love the combination of a very dramatic story with some sprinkles of science fiction. I think movies should do more genre-combining to create unique viewing experiences. However, I feel like in this case, it didn't completely work. If you look at the film minus the sci fi elements, it's a pretty basic, redundant melodramatic story. If you take away the heavy drama, the sci fi aspects leave a lot to be desired. The combination is necessary, but each individual piece doesn't stand on its own.

The heart of the story really has nothing to do with the other Earth. The film is primarily about a young woman who drunk drives and kills a mother and child. She befriends the grieving widower, without revealing who she is. This definitely creates some powerfully dramatic moments, but it felt a bit Lifetime movie to me. The drama too often slides into melodrama. I felt like this aspect of the story is something that has been tackled before, and done better.

Brit Marling does a surprisingly good job in the lead role. Her performance is restrained, but realistic. I think as a young actress (this is only her third feature film role), she was very impressive. I think she has real talent, and I hope to see more of her. She conveyed emotion well here. As a fan of "Lost", I was excited to see William Mapother in this film. I think he's a good actor, and he was good here (but clearly not great). I think he worked well as the grieving widower, but his performance didn't blow me away. In a small film like this, his performance needed to be better- more raw, more emotional. As I said, good, not great.

The sci fi aspects are interesting. I love the idea of another earth appearing in outer space. I felt like the explanation of the planet was a bit ridiculous. We'd have a long, long heads up before another earth got even close enough to travel to. I didn't understand exactly where it came from or when it appeared, but it felt a bit ridiculous to me. However, let's just go with it for argument's sake.

The idea of another Earth is fascinating, especially if that planet was populated with another you. The ramifications of this are endless and are game-changing. I desperately wish this movie explored this aspect more. It touches on it, hints at it, but doesn't really chase it to the end. I wanted more. The scene with the woman who talks to the other her is perhaps the greatest scene in the film. It gives me chills and gets my imagination going. Unfortunately, the movie teases the implications, but doesn't spend much time exploring them. It's interesting and fascinating to think about, but doesn't deliver the full potential.

The end of the movie is a bit controversial, but I enjoyed it. There's a little bit of twist at the end, and I thought the movie approached it beautifully. There's a moment right at the end where you think, "Oh." "Oh... wait a minute, if that's true than that means...!" It's a cool way to end the movie. It's not exactly a satisfying ending, but it's cool and a bit of a cliffhanger.

Another Earth does a few things very well, but I feel like it's an idea that was not fully realized. It is a movie that feels like it comes from a talented, but inexperienced director. I think Mike Cahill (making his feature film directorial debut) does good work and clearly has some talent. However, he's obviously very inexperienced. A more experienced director could have taken this story and turned it into something beautiful and memorable. Cahill works hard, but his end result falls short. The movie is fine, but it misses opportunities to maximize its potential. This film could have been terrific, but it's not.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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