Red herrings rarely come as big as they do in Another Earth, which revolves around a newly-discovered planet, a mirror of our own. But though the sci-fi conceit hints at big existential questions, the ‘Who Are We?’s and ‘What Does We All Mean?’s and ‘What If I’m Not A Special and Unique Little Snowflake?’s of it all, Mike Cahill’s debut film proves a much smaller, more intimate affair about two lost individuals trying to navigate their way through this messy, lonely and heartbreak-fuelled world.
On the evening that the news of Earth 2 first breaks, MIT student Rhoda (Brit Marling, who co-wrote the script) becomes so entranced by the newly visible planet and its latent possibilities that she crashes her car, killing a woman and child and leaving a man comatose. Four years later she emerges from jail, a disassociated shell of a person determined to somehow help the man whose life she destroyed. An unconventional relationship is formed, founded on the two characters’ desire to restart their lives.
Cahilll’s background in documentary filmmaking is evident and there is an assured, still beauty to his lingering shots and the gorgeously rendered views of Earth 2. Meanwhile, Marling proves an irresistible muse. Her quietly expressive performance explores every facet of longing and regret, while brief interludes, such as her enchanting story of a Russian cosmonaut, hint at the passionate, carefree woman she could have been. The elegantly eerie soundtrack helps to create a mystical, contemplative air that’s laced with melancholy.
However, it’s also riddled with plot holes, on both small and epic levels. Though William Mapother is impressive, his bereaved character goes through an unbelievably quick transition from an almost catatonic depressive to an impassioned romantic, while the basic science of Earth 2 remains unforgivably unexplained.
Maybe an alternative version of the film would elevate this often lovely and ruminative exploration of loneliness, regret and redemption to the level of Moon or Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun. As it stands, Another Earth inhabits a much smaller, more tentative orbit, but its subtle, thoughtful atmosphere is a nice one to float in for an hour and a half.