Another Earth

"Another Earth" is a near-perfect indie film with a fascinating theme, a believable sci-fi premise, and, most important, superb actors to guide us into this elegiac and haunting universe. A sensation at Sundance, this quiet, methodical movie about tenuous human connection and a journey deep into ourselves is perhaps the science-fiction movie Ingmar Bergman never made.

Bergman would probably be smitten with the film's star and co-writer, Brit Marling, whose mysterious and intriguing presence reminds us of Liv Ullmann or Ingrid Thulin and merges with rich naturalistic playing, giving credibility to the entire enterprise. Marling plays Rhoda, a high school student whose fascination with the discovery of another parallel Earth ends in tragedy that very night, and jail time for her after a horrific traffic accident in which a noted musical conductor, John (William Mapother), is sent into a coma and his pregnant wife and 5-year-old son are killed. Cut to three years later, and Rhoda is still haunted by the events of that night and the possibilities of what her alternate self would be on that other Earth. She enters a contest to be part of a small team chosen to go there, and she wins. Meanwhile she has also quietly sought out John, who now lives a disheveled existence, his career and life in shambles. She poses as a housekeeper and invites herself into his world, eventually leading to a complicated relationship between the pair, over which the truth always hovers—a truth she does not know how to reveal.

Although Rhoda's family plays a brief part in the proceedings, "Another Earth" is essentially a two-hander about this damaged pair of strangers. Director and co-writer Mike Cahill gives his actors lots of breathing room, and the pace is definitely, and perhaps defiantly, deliberate. This is not your kid's brand of science fiction but more a brooding treatise on the mysteries of the planet and why we were chosen to be here. Much of the fascination with the other Earth, seen almost as a distant moon, is played out in Rhoda's eyes. Her dream to confront her doppelganger on the other side is now complicated by the budding romance with John and the lie she is living. The stunning Marling is unforgettable in a performance that bridges the everyday world of Rhoda and her decidedly more ethereal and out-of-this-world desires. If the essence of great screen acting is in the eyes, Marling has it in spades. She is enormously appealing even while playing a character of questionable moral judgment. Mapother is more straightforward but believably conveys the downward trajectory of a decent man who has lost everything but suddenly and unexpectedly is given a second chance at life and love.

Cahill and Marling have created an extraordinary film of unique ideas with an oddly satisfying conclusion that only adds to the mysteries of life it ponders, providing food for thought long after the lights go up.

Genre: Science fiction/drama
Directed by: Mike Cahill
Screenplay by: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling
Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother