Another Earth – 3/5 – Movie Reviews by RY!
Another Earth – 3/5 – Melodramatic films; they are the kind of films that strike a chord to being dull and boring. For the most part, films that are melodramatic are the basic step-sibling to a better sibling (Dramatic films). The reason for their bad taste is that these kinds of works of arts are too much stuck in their ways of being less involved with a story and more reliance of a monologue for an underlining define of the director’s motive. When it comes to this, these films always fall flat to entertain. For the most part, this movie doesn’t try to amplify an underlining meaning throughout the watching experience. Where it fails is in its lack of storytelling and being littered with common elements of a melodrama. This movie is a very average tragic story, with a paralleling sci-fi element.
In a not to distance past, people of Earth have just found and discovered another planet identical to itself. While this discover happens, a young woman named Rhoda (Brit Marling) is involved in a tragic experience. After both events have happen, four years passes, and the young woman is living a life of lost meaning. She has lived with the guilt and feeling of what she had done, and wonders how she will move on. Throughout her struggles, she must decide on a path that will help her get her life back or help someone else get their life back on track. Brit Marling does a decent job in this role. You can see that Brit brings across a dire woman who is struggling with the tragic event she caused. In this, you see that she is trying to find reason to live on. Brit does well in defining this, and bring it relevant to the audience. She does a respectable job in this role, and is great compliment because of what the movie is stuck under. Other than the main character, the rest of the cast is not much else than just tools for supporting her struggles and decisions in the movie. You see they are just placement structures more than actual relevant characters, and just helps move Rhoda forward through each scene in the movie.
The direction of this film is very simple concept. You have a tragic event defining the whole purpose of the main character. Rhoda is tortured by her past, and stuck in this depressed state of mind. Along with this dramatic tone, you have a sci-fi element that is paralleling this tragic event. The movie does well in not making one theme stronger than the other, and keeps these themes on a collision course on a decision, that she will have to make. When Rhoda is given the chance to leave earth, you are left with the climax of choice. Will Rhoda choose to venture to the new world and live a different life or will she find a way to clear her soul by staying on the current earth. As the paralleling tones become a singular one, you see strength in the simple context, and see a layer of what choice means in its on parallel to the meaning of chance. Even for this, you still see the most common cliché trail that starts off with the tragic event:
Tragic Event > Confront your fears > Redemption
This is where you see the melodramatic tones take effect, and the overall momentum of the films simple concept falls flat behind the typical structure of this kind of movie.
The visuals are subtle, but deeply mesmerizing. Things that are seen throughout the movie are a strong reflection of what a real life situation would be if both the events of the movie happen. These simple scenes you see are placed against an excellent score. The music brings awe to the story, as well as feelings of grace. The score keeps you in the movie, even when the clichés take effect
Overall, you feel close to the main character and enjoy the characterization made throughout the movie. Rhoda is a very complex character, but the obviousness of the story drowns out a dire human being. You feel as if you’ve seen this story before in a different form in other films. I’d recommend for a rental for casual movie watchers, and a possible add to a movie collection if you really want to.