#williammapother

1 hour 32 minutes

Rated PG-13 (Disturbing Images, Some Sexuality, Nudity and Brief Drug Use)

Directed by Mike Cahill

Starring William Mapother and Brit Marling

2 out of 4 stars

Another Earth is a great idea that I instantly forgot about. Anybody heard of the Counter-Earth hypothesis? It's a real theory that another Earth has duplicated somewhere else in the universe and there is literally another version of you that exists. In Mike Cahill's sci-fi drama the theory is used in an extremely cliched story. The image of the other Earth is stunning. It's the emotional response that I got from the movie that was very weak. The trailer for this movie is very very misleading. It looks like it will be very powerful and sad. Sadly, it's quite flat.

The theory fits kinda nicely in the movie. Brit Marling (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is a student who has just got accepted into MIT and decides to party with her friends. As she's driving home that night she hears about the discovery of another earth. As she looks out her car window BOOM! She hits a car with a father, a pregnant mother, and a little boy. The mother and boy die. The father goes in a coma. The girl goes to jail and her identity is never announced to the man because she's a minor. When she gets out of jail she moves back with her parents and brother and gets a job as a janitor at a high school. She feels like she needs to tell the man that she's the girl that killed his family. When she goes to his house though she freaks out and tells him that she's a member of a free house cleaning service. She cleans his house every week and then (surprise?) they fall in love. She also hears about a chance to win a free trip to the other Earth by submitting an essay. She does and (surprise?) she wins the free ticket.

I love this idea of there being another you out there and the desire to see if that you has made the same mistakes as you. William Mapother (Ethan from Lost if anybody's watched that show) and newcomer Brit Marling give natural performances but I just didn't really care about their story. Many critics thought it was too cliched. Yeah. That's true. I thought I would let that pass but it didn't. I felt a little bit for their relationship (the conventional scene where they passionately make love is pretty sweet, I'll admit) but the movie ends way too quickly. They're just sort of dropped from the movie 10 minutes before the end. To make things more cliched there's a subplot involving Marling and another janitor at the school who (awww?) gets sick and goes to the hospital. Oh yeah and also, why is the family sooooooooooooooooooooo underdeveloped? That's a huge flaw in the script.

I also nearly hated the style and feel of Another Earth. I expected it to have the same gritty yet powerful realism of a drama like Like Crazy for example. Oh no. It doesn't feel like that at all. Anyone know that song Such Great Heights by The Postal Service? That's the best example I can think of to explain what the vibe and music of the film is. There's also a huge problem with the handheld camera work here. IT'S SO UNNECESSARILY SHAKY. Sometimes it zooms in quickly for no reason in scenes and what tries to come off as gritty realism is a dizzying effect (and to make matters even more unfortunate Cahill actually edited the movie as well).