A new star appears in the night sky, so bright that no one can resist staring at it.

Rhoda (Brit Marling, an

ambitious high school graduate heading for a scholarship at MIT, is driing and watching the new night
ob!ect when, tragically, she slams into a car at a stop sign. "he spends four years in prison for her
careless act and, in that time, the star turned out to be #Another $arth.%
&hen Rhoda earns her parole, she is older and wiser, taking a janitorial !ob instead of graduating college
as planned four long years ago. "he toils day to day, keeping her identity anonymous ' she was conicted
as a minor and her name is not attached to the deadly accident. All the while $arth ( is drawing closer
and closer and "$TI attempts to contact the new world by radio as the whole world watches. The director
of "$TI, )r. *oan Tallis ()iane +iesla,, hears her own oice coming from $arth (. Pandemonium breaks
out when the whole world learns that there is a doppelganger planet that mirrors our own $arth.
$arth ( is the sci-fi hook that draws you into Rhoda.s life but it is her search for redemption that is the
meat of #Another $arth.% Rhoda inestigates the aftermath of her accident where a wife and young son
were killed. The father, composer-turned-recluse *ohn Burroughs (&illiam Mapother,, has sunk into a
depression where none of his past life matters anymore. Rhoda wants to see the man and pretends to be a
maid offering a free house cleaning. Burroughs accepts and a subtle worker/boss relationship begins and
Burroughs begins to lie life again, thanks to Rhoda.
This story of dual redemption is livened up by the eent that is $arth (. The thought that there is another
you on another planet has intrigued science fiction writers for decades. )ocumentary maker Mike +ahill
makes the leap to feature fiction films with a screenplay scribed by the director and his star Brit Marling.
The result tweaked the sci-fi fan in me while telling a story about human tragedy and delierance. Mike
+ahill combines the two ery different story threads and manages to keep them balanced.
#Another $arth% is an intelligent debut feature film that handles its ery different stories deftly. 0ou
hae to forgie the liberties taken with physics ' a planet so close to $arth would wreak catastrophic
climate disruptions on $arth as the two planets. graitational pull draw them together. The sci-fi fan in
me forgies the liberty of the authors. 1oweer, this is a metaphoric fiction not science fact that works on
different leels. I gie it a B-.
At the age of seenteen, possibilities seemed limitless for Rhoda &illiams (Brit Marling,. "he2d !ust been
accepted into MIT and then heard the startling news that a planet much like ours had emerged from the
far side of the sun. But that night, Rhoda was driing drunk and hit a family car head on, killing *ohn
Burroughs2s (&illiam Mapother, 3In the Bedroom,3 T42s 25ost2, wife and son while she ga6ing up at the
sky and 3Another $arth.3
This "undance hit, cowritten by its star and director/cinematographer/editor Mike +ahill (3Bo7ers and
Ballerinas3,, takes a tried and true concept - that of being able to right a wrong or relie one2s life - and
gooses it with the old sci-fi veneer of a parallel unierse. But it2s not the story per se that makes
3Another $arth3 so intriguing, it is the character study of Rhoda, and to a lesser degree *ohn Burroughs,
articulated in a breakout performance by the camera adoring Marling, capped off by a simply great,
stark, multi-tentacled ending.
8our years go by and Rhoda gets out of prison and returns to her 9ew *ersey home. "he pu66les a
councilor by re:uesting a blue collar !ob cleaning her local high school. 9ews of the 2mirror planet,2
which is now sitting hugely in the sky, predominates. Rhoda isits the scene of her crime on Beach "t.,
then looks up Burroughs and traels to his off-the-beaten-path anti:ue home on ;( Russell Road. "he
offers its unkempt inhabitant a 2free trial cleaning2 and proceeds to clean up a home in a suspended state of
renovation. Burroughs drinks more than talks, but asks her to come back. "lowly they begin to
become friends and he begins to lie again. "he tells him she2s entered an essay contest for a trip to $(.
&hen she wins, he makes a dinner to celebrate, but she needs to unburden her terrible secret.
&e see the main plot points of 3Another $arth,3 beginning with that terrible car accident, coming from a
million miles away and the film still takes its time arriing at them. It2s in the details, though, that the
film sparkles, like what Rhoda and *ohn2s homes tell us about them. The brilliant girl who wished to
become a scientist comes from an aerage home with supportive parents (8lint Beerage and *ordan
Baker, and a brother, *eff (Robin Taylor, 3Accepted3,, whose slightly obnoxious behaior and celebrated
acceptance into UConn underlines !ust how special Rhoda had been. Burroughs2s house shows the
promise of a once prominent academic career (he was a music professor at 0ale, neglected in grief.
"cience, math and music are connected in *ohn and Rhoda2s conersations (!ust as her choice of !anitorial
profession symboli6es her penance, a cleansing of the soul,. "he tells him about the Russian cosmonaut
who first went into space. 1e plays the saw for her, producing music as eerily beautiful as a theremin.
The &illiams family watch )r. *oan Tallis ()iane +iesla, of "$TI on T4 as she tries to communicate
with $( and discoers she is talking to someone by the name of *oan Tallis who shares her birthday. A
man on the street wears a tinfoil hat. Rhoda2s essay centers on her status as an e7-con, someone not
usually given much in the way of opportunities, and her desire to reach for the stars, her life before and
after merged together.
)espite its low budget, +ahill achiees a strong sense of place with few locations. 1is thoughtful
framing and lighting accentuate his characters - Rhoda standing at one of Burroughs2s windows as dust
mites dance in the light around her, Rhoda walking through the field towards his house centered and
isolated but moing forward, the normalcy of *ohn and Rhoda playing a &II bo7ing game in a situation
anything but normal. The film does seem overextended, howeer, its ideas maybe better suited to a
long short form than a feature.
Brit Marling gies a luminous performance as Rhoda, thoughtful and pained but still hopeful.
Mapother doesn2t come into as clear a focus, although his gradual reconnection with life is intelligently
done with no soggy sentiment. The two work well together in what is essentially a two person piece.
Although we can guess how Rhoda will try to help heal *ohn and assuage her own guilt, Marling and
+ahill2s final shot is a gift to Rhoda we do not e7pect and one which leads to many con!ectures. It2s
cathartic by means of suggestion rather than spelling anything out, a loely 2<h=2 moment and the
filmmaking team who con!ured it hold loads of promise.
Ripe with metaphor, offering the possibility of interesting narratie hooks as well as the potential for
uni:ue and inentie isuals, there2s something endlessly attractie about science fiction for first-time
directors.
8rom *ohn +arpenter2s comedic )ark "tar to )uncan *ones2 stately Moon ia )arren Aronofsky2s
beguiling >i, it2s clear that sci-fi truly is the gift that keeps on giing.
The latest film to !oin this seemingly eergreen sub-genre is Another $arth, the debut effort from
+onnecticut-based writer/director Mike +ahill and co-writer/ star Brit Marling.
"tarting from a ery simple premise? what would happen if you could meet another ersion of yourself,
+ahill and Marling concoct a story of guilt, forgieness and parallel worlds that attempts to make its
budgetary limitations (it was made for around @(AA,AAA, work in its faour.
The plot follows high school student, Rhoda &illiams (Marling, as she celebrates her recent acceptance
to MIT. After a drunken night out with friends, the into7icated Rhoda dries home, listening to a bi6arre
story on the car radio about how another planet, oddly resembling our own, is fast approaching $arth.
5ooking out of the window of her car at the night sky, Rhoda ends up ploughing into the car of 0ale
music professor *ohn Burroughs (&illiam Mapother,, killing both his wife and son and putting the
musician into a coma.
As a result of the accident, Rhoda doesn2t go to MIT and instead ends up sering four years in a
correctional facility for her crime. 1oweer, with her sentence completed, Rhoda finds herself released
into a world that has changed since she was last free.
Another $arth now hangs in the sky and there2s eidence of a parallel population liing upon its surface.
Are the people on this mirror world !ust like usB Are they differentB <r are their lies similar, yet
somehow diergent from our ownB
The answers to all of these :uestions remain frustratingly out of reach, but there2s an upcoming, manned
priate e7pedition to this other $arth planned and Rhoda decides to apply for a space on the flight.
Alongside this, Rhoda also manages to make contact with the still struggling *ohn Burroughs. 5ike
Rhoda, his life has been shattered by the accident and he seems unable to moe beyond his grief for his
wife and son.
Managing to trick her way into his home by pretending to be a courtesy cleaner for a local maid firm,
Rhoda soon becomes Burroughs2 regular cleaner as she secretly tries to assuage herself of her guilt at
causing the accident. But when the truth comes out about her true connection to Burroughs, what is the
price Rhoda will hae to pay...B
&hile the set up of Another $arth is undoubtedly intriguing, sadly it2s e7ecution leaes a lot to be desired.
<n the technical front, director +ahill is clearly a filmmaker of some promise, and the way he both edits
and !u7taposes his footage to sound and music is reminiscent of "teen "oderbergh.
1oweer, despite the clear eidence of techni:ue, the script !ust doesn2t rise to the same leel of :uality or
subtlety.
$ssentially a two-hander between Rhoda and *ohn, ultimately Another $arth stands or falls on the
belieability and depth of the drama in the scenes between Mapother and Marling. &hile both actors fully
commit to their roles (with Marling in particular marking herself out, the material is both clichCd and
grimly po-faced, while Mapother reminds us why he2s neer really been anything more than a supporting
actor.
)ramatic shortcomings apart, far more damaging to the film oerall is its treatment of the whole parallel
earth concept.
"eemingly unsure as to whether the film should commit to its central genre idea or continue to paddle in
the waters of 2intense2 indie drama, Another $arth ends up flirting with both and conincing as neither.
The net result of this is that the 2shock2 ending of the moie, which should really make us feel something
(anything=, for Rhoda and her struggle, really doesn2t pack the punch it should on either a isceral or a
dramatic leel.
&hile an impressiely made debut feature, Another $arth is ultimately a cold, unengaging and remote
film that promises much, yet deliers little.
+ahill and Marling are clearly a talented pair, but to hae successful careers both will need stronger
material than this to help them on their way.