Another Earth is a messy blend of sci-fi and soap. Photo / Supplied
Another Earth is a messy blend of sci-fi and soap. Photo / Supplied
Two films fight with each other and both lose in this attractive and often affecting but ultimately bloodless American indie drama. It's co-written by director Cahill and Marling, and the latter plays one main role - that of a young woman trying to atone for a shocking mistake she madeas a teenager.
She does so in the most questionable, if not downright creepy, manner - inveigling herself into the life of the man bereaved by her youthful blunder without telling him who she is. Her explanation, delivered late in the film, doesn't dispel the impression that she's an "it's all about me" sort of girl.
The man concerned is a famous composer turned grief-stricken drunk (Mapother, Tom Cruise's cousin) and, even when we set aside the age difference, the relationship always seems implausible.
It's an idea that's been explored expertly before, notably in fine films by the Dane Susanne Bier and the Belgian Dardenne brothers. This one adds something to it only by the contrived conceit that an identical planet, called Earth 2, has made an appearance next to the moon and may be home to duplicates of everything - and everybody - that exists on Earth.
It's a messy blend of sci-fi and soap and the film never gets to grips - certainly not in a cop-out final shot with its underpinning idea: that this second world may offer a chance at some sort of cosmic redemption ("Is that me better than this me?" one radio commentator speculates in the background).
The Earth 2 story sounds like a good idea for a movie - a kindly, utopian twist on Melancholia - but it's reduced here to what Hitchcock called a MacGuffin.
The film has plenty of incidental pleasures - a crisp, economical narrative and some lovely acting. But the mannered visual style overuses jump cuts and several major plot holes are evidence of a lack of attention to detail.
Stars: 3/5 Cast: William Mapother, Brit Marling Director: Mike Cahill Running time: 89 mins Rating: M (violence, sex scenes) Verdict: Sci-fi meets soap.
