Another Earth

Now here’s an odd film. Starting off being told partially in flashback, we follow Rhoda (Brit Marling), a young woman recently released from prison following her incarceration for causing the death of a mother and her young son in a car accident. On her release she seeks out a job where she can use her hands and keep a low profile. Janitor it is then. Mike Cahill’s film appears to be going nowhere until Rhoda chances upon the husband and father of her victims who survived said car crash (which is shown in bone crunching detail by the way). To explain what happens next would be to give too much away, but Rhoda decides to contact him (in the guise of a cleaning company) and, as he doesn’t recognise her from the accident, nothing appears too amiss to him. There’s more though. Running parallel is a secondary story concerning, quite literally, “another earth” as, err, another earth, appearing to be an exact replica of our own, appears in the sky. The two storylines eventually merge at the end, giving us a jaw dropping final shot. What to make of this bizarre tale then? First thing to say is that this is a very slow film. Apart from the aforementioned smash, this is told as at a leisurely pace as I saw all last year in the cinema and it will definitely be a struggle for some. There’s very little dialogue and the film is mainly told via a combination of moods, sounds and visuals. To be fair to Cahill it pretty much works, though in a few instances (especially the compunction for Rhoda to contact the husband in the first place) further explanation would have helped back up somewhat confusing actions by the characters. As for the lame metaphor concerning Rhoda’s colleague at the school Cahill is trying too hard. Marling is great in the lead role (she’s pretty much on screen the entire time) playing Rhoda as someone who had their whole life ahead of them, but now will be forever burdened by her previous actions. There’s a redemption in part for her at the end, but it’s a bit too conventiant script wise. All in all, if you want to see something different then give this a chance. Just don’t expect too much though.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Slow, but intriguing enough if you’re open minded. Loses a mark though for the toe curlingly embarrassing musical saw serenade scene. Yep, you read that right. Rating: 6/10.