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At a time of year when big-budget 3D blockbusters rule the box office, you might expect a movie called Another Earth to be more of the same. But if you go to this Sundance drama expecting sci-fi action and 3D effects, you�ll be in for a big surprise.
Four years ago, on the night when the world first heard about its twin planet, Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) was just an irresponsible kid with a lifetime of promise ahead of her. After a wild night of partying�celebrating her acceptance to MIT�she was studying the night sky, looking for this mysterious other planet, when her car collided with another, killing a woman and child and leaving their husband and father in a coma.
Now, after serving four years for the drunken accident, Rhoda is just getting by, working maintenance at a high school while suffering from the guilt brought about by her actions. She decides to apologize to the accident�s lone survivor, John Burroughs (William Mapother), but when she sees what a mess his life has become, she can�t go through with it. Instead, she poses as a housekeeper, and as she comes each week to clean his house, the two form a cautious friendship, and both begin to heal.
Another Earth is the kind of movie that, as a critic, I�m just supposed to take at face value and love unconditionally. It�s quiet and moody, with long, dramatic pauses and artsy, out-of-focus shots to stress its indie budget (though, just for the record, you don�t actually need a massive budget to be able to get your camera in focus). It�s the kind of stuff that many of my colleagues generally eat up.
The premise, too, is a fascinating one. The idea of a parallel world�one that�s just like ours, with people just like us living on it�could make for an imaginative film that sparks viewers� imagination and stays with them long after they leave the theater.
Unfortunately, though, while the discovery of �Earth 2� occasionally plays a part in the film, it generally remains in the background. This isn�t a sci-fi film about the discovery and exploration of a twin planet; it�s a drama about a girl who�s trying to atone for past mistakes (while living in a world that happens to have a twin planet hovering nearby).
Meanwhile, that planet that�s often visible in the background will distract you with nagging questions that grow into frustrating plot holes�questions like How did this planet just pop up out of nowhere one day with no one knowing about it? or If it�s that close, why does it take four years for anyone to realize that there are other cities and other people there�or to try to make contact?
Those nagging questions will often divert your attention away from the story�which, while relatively well done and well acted, is nothing new or remarkable. Of course, it doesn�t help that Rhoda isn�t an easy character to like. After all, despite her obvious feelings of guilt and remorse, she did kill a man�s family in a drunk-driving accident�and the fact that she keeps coming back to John�s house without telling him the truth seems to add insult to injury.
Despite its low budget, Another Earth could have been a captivating and thought-provoking sci-fi drama (after all, Duncan Jones was able to make it work in Moon). Instead, it�s a pretty standard indie drama, with a distracting sci-fi subplot that plays out in the distant background�until it all comes together in a less-than-satisfying conclusion, made all the more frustrating by the film�s disappointingly unfulfilled potential. So if you�re looking to travel to another world this summer, I recommend sacrificing a little bit of depth and drama and sticking with the flashier big-budget blockbusters.
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