Wait. It’s been there the whole time?! We never hit it? There are over 2,000 satellites currently orbiting this Earth. None of them ever crashed into -let alone figured out- there was an Earth2 in the same orbit right behind our planet? Hmmm, well I can think of a few reasons we never saw Earth2 before: 1 it has always been exactly behind our sun, 180 degrees opposite on our orbital ellipse – satellites still would have found it, but Earthlings wouldn’t have until they started flinging objects up there. This means that now that we can see it, it’s gaining on us and we’ll collide eventually, meaning we’re screwed. Another good possibility is Earth2 is an alien civilization, has better technology, and is luring us into an elaborate trap … in which case we’re screwed. And yet another possibility is that the entire planet of ours is suffering from mass delusions – well, that would explain President Trump—in which case, well, we’re screwed. (But we knew that once Trump was elected)
There are some for whom jail isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you. Depending on who you are, of course, memory can be the world’s worst prison. One fateful evening, a car radio reports that there is a new planet, and it is right there if you look out your window! And while distracted with this amazing news, young would-be astronomer Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) accidentally steers her vehicle into a family, killing son and pregnant wife instantly, and putting the father (William Mapother) into a coma. If you have a soul, this is something you never recover from. And, of course, how fair is it to focus on the instigator instead of the victims?
Four years later, Rhoda is out of prison. Still hobbled by guilt, she vows to come clean to John (Mapother), but instead of coming clean, she loses nerve and says she’s “come to clean” offering to make habitable the rat’s nest where John lives. This is a film in which the plot is very simple and it seems light years away from the initial sci-fi premise. A young woman is into outer space; she learns of a new Earth-like accessible planet, and instead of the film getting into spaceships, astronaut behavior, and the existence of alien beings, we have a story where she guiltily and repetitively cleans the house of the man whose life she destroyed. It would be easy to dislike Another Earth on the premise of “bait-and-switch.”
This is one of those films I really hate to give away anything, because –to me- the unfolding of the story is equally as profound as any knock-off 2001: A Space Odyssey. Such is exacerbated by a complete lack of soundtrack where no music will emphasize an emotion or punctuate a discovery. The drawback is that Another Earth becomes a two-person set-piece. Heck, if you told me this was a stage play before it was a screenplay, I shouldn’t be surprised. This kind of film only works if the acting is really good … and it is, except, unfortunately, for the most critical scene in the film. AAAAAAAAAGH! How could you do this to me, movie?
Another Earth promises sci-fi and delivers squalor. That usually would piss me off. But today, it doesn’t. This is well-considered screenplay and surprisingly good sci-fi to boot. It’s the kind of film where you watch to the end and ask questions because you want to know more, not because something was missing, but because the philosophical outweighs the fantastical. I wish there were more of Brit Marling to catch, but her career, once on a Jennifer Lawrence pathway, seems to have diverted to an alternate universe, Another Earth if you will. I hope she comes back to this one eventually.
I thought astronomers were just poking fun
Claiming Another Earth orbits our sun
But if this is true
Let’s move to Earth 2
It can’t possibly be worse than Earth 1
Rated PG-13, 92 Minutes
Director: Mike Cahill
Writer: Mike Cahill, Brit Marling
Genre: The one where you translate a tale about outer space into a woman cleaning filthy interiors
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of redemption
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of punishment
