Another Earth is another good movie I would like to recommend this weekend to all my fans. HA! But yes this movie is pretty good, but I recommend it highly simply because I can see others possibly finding a level of greatness in this, and even if not it’s just a unique film and worth checking out for something a bit different. It’s about a woman who as a minor causes a drunk driving accident that puts a man in a coma, and kills his wife, son and his unborn daughter. Four years later she is out of jail and having trouble with the guilt, but ends up trying to find a way of making things right for the man who’s life she changed so drastically. She does so by cleaning his home on a weekly basis, cleaning up the 4 year mess of a lonely man trying to cope with his loss. Meanwhile the world’s biggest metaphor has appeared floating in the sky in the form of … another Earth, or Earth 2 as they call it. It’s identical to our Earth, right down to what seems to be carbon copies of ourselves living the exact same lives as us at the exact same moment. Or is it? Is it a planet where things are better, where second chances exist? A place to see how things would have become if your life had taken a different direction?
It’s not the greatest movie, but it’s very well done and the concept of this duplicate planet – stretching the odds of probability & physics to it’s limit – was fun to explore, despite the heavy subject matter. It’s beautifully shot, mostly bathed in an earthly blue throughout, while maintaining a slight gritty feel, which along with it’s timeless setting, it pulls you into a world where such an event somehow actually feels possible. Even the film itself feels like its from a different time – or perhaps another Earth – ooooooooo! It’s tone reminded of the 80’s Kiwi film called The Quiet Earth where overnight a man awakens to a world where everyone disappears. It’s obviously not plausible that such an event would happen, but the grittiness of the film and the performances somehow pull you into it a place where you actually ask yourself how you would react to such an event.
So yeah, a highly unique film. A bit heavy at times considering the plot (the duplicate Earth takes a back seat to the main story), but it’s an original 90 minute experience. Check it out, fellow Earthlings.
