'Another Earth' A Review

'Another Earth' is an odd film. It opens with a girl recently accepted to MIT driving home from a party and seeing a glowing blue light in the sky. She becomes fixated by it, doesn't pay attention to the road, and hits a car with a family head on. The wife and child are killed while the husband survives. The next scene is the girl, Rhoda, getting out of prison four years later. She has a hard time adjusting. While she's been in prison the blue light has gotten closer. It appears to be another Earth. She goes to apologize to the man whose life she ruined but lacks the courage so instead becomes his cleaning lady.
The film is quiet and sweeping. Slow motion shots and powerful underscore are used heavily. We see Rhoda on her journey of guilt and atonement. Earth 2, as it's termed, is a metaphor for second chances but also a reality. There is no wink in the film about it, Earth 2 is real which I appreciate. I think it's interesting that this film and 'Tree Of Life' came out so close together. 'Tree Of Life' is all images up to our interpretation where as 'Another Earth' is a satisfying real narrative but the implications and connections are left up to us. The film is full of real, moving characters. Rhoda has a co-worker, an old man, whose presence in the film is beautiful.

My favorite scene of the film is one in which Rhoda goes to a shop to buy gummy bears. It's shot in such a careful, patient way that we understand all the implications of the purchase. First and foremost she hasn't had candy in four years. She runs into a former high school classmate in the check out line. He's with his girlfriend and at first were afraid it'll be ugly but it's just sad. She leaves without making her purchase because she's ashamed. As she exits the girlfriend asks the guy "who was that?" and he simply says "we went to high school together..."

I went into this film expecting to hate it. I loved it. It's subtle, meaningful, and soulful.

See It.