I have listed this as a spoiler just in case, although I provide no details regarding the outcome of the film. I merely hint at things.
I went into Another Earth with hopes of finding something unique. After all, the trailer, log line, and tasteful stills all pointed to the idea that Mike Cahill's pet project was something different than what I was used to.
I was mistaken. Badly so.
Disappointment cannot even begin to convey my feelings towards this film. The most heartbreaking aspect of Another Earth is that it fails to deliver an emotional payoff despite consistently setting up emotional-anchored scenarios. Rhoda (Brit Marling) hits and kills the child and wife of John Burroughs (William Mapother). She sees the bodies and CUT! we jump to four years later to find her back with the family (whom, I might add, seem bizarrely awkward around their daughter. She was in jail, not Siberia, for the last four years. Did no one ever think to put visitor hours to good use?). We don't see the real emotional impact of her mistake because she comes home a living zombie: empty, quiet, deadpan, and flat out boring.
Which leads me to another problem: depressed people don't have Lego-brick personalities. And if they do, they don't star as lead characters in films (unless we're talking Twilight). Cahill seems to believe the only way to convey guilt is to make Rhoda an unkempt rag doll with an expressionless face. To him, having her stare off into space for thirty seconds shows just how "emotionally deep" her problems run. For us in the audience, it means it's time to check our watches.
The silence in the film (and there's a LOT of it) doesn't tell us anything about Rhoda. Instead, it acts as a precursor to a lot of overly artsy shots that make you think about how much color correction they did in post. In fact, this entire film could run as a series of photographic stills— after all, it seems to care more about how pretty Earth 2 looks into the sky than the emotional struggles of the girl standing beneath it.
Dialogue is contrived, painfully so. If you've watched even one Hollywood film, you can probably guess each and every line before it's said. Things fall in a predictable fashion and characters flip flop personalities depending on what the plot calls for. There are numerous points over which characters throw massive fits, only to dismiss the same problem a scene later.
And then, of course, there's the blatant unrealism of it all. No, I'm not talking about Earth 2. I can suspend my disbelief for that. What I'm talking about is the set up between Rhoda and John. Despite what John's been through, he's not an idiot; it shouldn't take him an hour and ten minutes to figure out Rhoda's not who she says she is.
Another Earth expects you to ignore basic logic in order to swallow even the most simple of moments. It interprets "suspension of disbelief" as meaning "you can't judge this film because it's artsy." This film lacks the depth it so desperately attempts to flaunt. It comes off cheesy, pretentious, shallow, and self-obsessed. Characters pinball through events and come out as empty as they started. The ones that do change do so without any real good reason. There's no pleasure to be had in watching this film unless you absolutely love staring at empty, motiveless images (and characters) for long periods of time. But if that's the case, I recommend watching a Discovery Channel doc. At least you'll be learning something.
To conclude, Another Earth is a complete waste for anyone looking to enjoy themselves. It delivers nothing in exchange for your time and money and expects you to come out praising it for its "unique delivery." Do your eyes, wallet, and gas tank a favor and avoid.
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