The promise of redemption is at the center of Another Earth, a science fiction indie with a ton of buzz and acclaim for it's contemplative pace, and the breakout performance of it's star and co-writer, Brit Marling. It posits a world where another planet just like ours, but slightly different, has been discovered in the skies above, and it isn't long before people are vying for a chance at a better life. One such person is Rhoda(Marling), who we're introduced to four years earlier just as she's having one last party before heading to MIT. Unfortunately her technical smarts doesn't do jack for her common sense, driving drunk while staring at the mirror planet above, causing a fatal car accident which decimates a family and gets her sent to jail. Her future a shambles, the arrogance of her youth destroyed, Rhoda gets out of prison a broken woman, taking a job as custodian where she can't hurt anybody.
But the guilt continues to weigh her down. On a whim, she goes to the home of the accident's lone survivor, the father John Burroughs(William Mapother), in order to beg forgiveness. Instead at the sight of how her actions have ruined his life, she panics and claims to be a cleaning woman. Conveniently he buys her services, employing her for weeks while she keeps the secret to herself. Their relationship becomes a lot more than that, making each other's lives a little bit happier. For awhile.
That's where the film unfortunately falls flat and becomes just another tired indie film. For a movie that takes such a deliberate, thoughtful pace, the idea the sociological implications of another earth just like ours featuring versions of ourselves is all but ignored. We only see Rhoda contemplate this for the briefest of moments. Instead we get long, stagnant shots of her staring off into the distance looking vaguely bored. The relationship between her and John is the same grief filled slog we've seen too many times before with nothing new. You've seen this movie already, and the presence of a planet in the sky doesn't change a thing.
I'm genuinely confused at all the attention this film has earned, and am convinced it's just the typical festival circuit hype heaped upon the chosen. Marlin deserves credit for her triple role in getting this movie put together(she also produced), but she doesn't give herself anything to work with. Maybe on that other planet there's a better version of Another Earth waiting to be found?
