Another Earth

Director:  Mike Cahill
Cast: Brit Marling and William Mapother
Releasing in cinemas: 24 November 2011
Rated: M

Another Earth bears remarkable similarity to Melancholia is also being released shortly. The two films share a blue planet seen in the sky as a striking image, an attractive but dispirited blonde central character, an elegiac atmosphere of impending doom, and sometimes shaky hand held camera. Enterprising cinemas could run them as a double bill.

The crux of the story is the tragic aftermath of a car accident. Astrophysics student Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) after a few drinks one night, drives home listening to a DJ describing a newly discovered planet, she gazes upwards to view it for herself. Rhoda fails to see another car on the roadside containing a happy small family. In the resulting collision the pregnant wife, and young child are killed, while the father is left in a coma. Rhoda imprisoned for four years as a result.

After release on a guilt trip, Rhoda visits John Burroughs (William Mapother) the still grieving father, planning to tell him she was the driver of the car. He unaware of her identity.  Shattered John now lives a reclusive life. Missing the opportunity to confess, she poses as a house cleaner and begins to work for the stricken musician. Washing pots and pans, and other menial chores in the grungy uncared for house, Rhoda finds companionship appealing with John, although she hasn't been able to tell him the truth. John slowly appears to return her affection.

Rhoda enters a nation wide competition to gain a seat on a proposed rocket flight to investigate approaching Earth 2, a mirror planet to our own, with possibly identical people. Now the time has come own up to John, hoping it will not end their relationship. There's a twist in the tale, heading to an enigmatic sudden ending. 

This low budget film directed, shot, and edited by Mike Cahill (Boxers and Ballerinas), co-written with Brit Marling, poses fascinating ideas. The uneasy relationship between Rhoda and John, where only one knows the deeper bond that binds them. The second earth, a mirror image of our own, existing perhaps in a parallel universe, suddenly entering the solar system. At one point a scientist makes contact with Earth 2 via radio, and  alarmingly finds she’s talking to herself. She confirms her other self has an identical history. Rhoda reflects it may be possible her accident never happened in the world of Earth 2. Unlimited possibilities suddenly exist.

Brit Marling (Sound of My Voice) brings Rhoda alive with introspective but determined conviction, her pensive personality sparks into vivid life when she tells John the story of the first cosmonaut, or playing a strenuous video boxing game with him. For his part William Mapother (The Grudge) makes an impression as the grief stricken husband, gradually coming back to living again. There's a sequence where John plays the musical saw for Rhoda with it's long eerie notes, re-enforcing the tone of the story. The flat bleakness of John's house in keeping with his mood, lightens up as Rhoda industriously scrubs the place clean.

Another Earth intrigues but with minor irritations. Camerawork has roughness which could have been avoided with a tripod, at least Cavill used one for the eloquent hallmark image of the blue planet in our skies. At times languid pacing and a stillness suits the contemplative nature of the material, while my attention never wandered there may be those not so patient. A film which will have you discussing the implications long after you leave the cinema. Now that's a good thing.  

John Bale