Another Earth

Another Earth appeared out of nowhere and won big time attention at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It is a very good film with not a lot of dialogue.

The film is centered around Rhonda (Brit Marling), a brilliant young woman who, driving home one evening after some partying, gets distracted by a big blue round object in the sky. The end results cause a tragic accident and kills a young child and her pregnant mother. The father, John Burroughs (William Mapother), a famous composer, is left comatose.

The blue object up above happens to be another Earth that was hiding behind the sun, until now. It is indeed a planet equal to ours and scientists have deemed it livable, but are unsure of the travel risks associated in reaching it. After Rhonda’s four years of incarceration, she is a free bird, but overwhelmed with guilt.

She makes numerous apology attempts to John’s house and even poses as a maid to try to tell him it was her who destroyed his family because due to her being a minor at that time, the person’s identity is withheld due to a state law.

As Earth 2 becomes more prominent in the sky, it leads to many questions and theories. What would you say to another you? How would you, or they, react in seeing your double? What would you look like and could you go back and start over in another Earth? Rhonda wants that opportunity, so she signs up and wins the contest. All this taking place and her parents have to find out via the news.

There are a couple stories here with Rhonda dealing with her tragedy then the duplicate Earth that keeps getting larger and more blue each time we observe it. It’s a very serious film and the chemistry Mapother (ABC’s Ethan on “LOST”) and Marling, who co-wrote the screenplay along with director Mike Cahill, is well blended.

It’s not your typical action blockbuster or a fast paced action movie, or even a sci-fi flick. What it is, is an emotional ride with a lot of expression. It’s a conversation movie that I would love to hear people’s reactions to. Brit Marling’s voice commands attention.

“Another Earth” opens in theaters July 22 and will be talked about for along time. It is rated PG-13, runs 92 minutes and is distributed by Fox Searchlight. It is more of an art film, not one you would expect to find in most theaters or one to rake in millions. Just a good movie to think on. But I think it would be cool traveling to another Earth, just for curiosity sakes.

By Hustlin Bob Higgins 3 stars