Another Earth
Directed By: Mike Cahill
Written By: Mike Cahill and Brit Marling
Starring: Brit Marling and William Mapother
Director of Photography: Mike Cahill, Editor: Mike Cahill, Production Designer: Darsi Monaco, Original Music: Fall on Your Sword
Rated: PG-13 for some heavy dramatic stuff, including a moment of violence.
Since man starred up at the stars, and Pink Floyd wrote in a lyric, we’ve been asking the question, “Is there anybody out there?” It’s a simple question about whether we are alone, but there is often an asterisk that people forget to add when they ask it. It’s not just “Are we alone,” it’s also “Is there someone out there who understands my own loneliness?”
Another Earth is a small drama with a science fiction twist that tries to incorporate that question, along with many others. This Sundance smash combines an intimate drama, not unlike many that emerge from Salt Lake City, and a science fiction allegory that is less imaginable or plausible than it is pumping for philosophical inquiry. The film asks a simple question: What would you do if you knew there was another you out there? Directed by Mike Cahill, who co-wrote the script with the film’s star Brit Marling, Another Earth gently pokes at these questions with some profound implications, while delivering a more-or-less standard drama about coming to terms with oneself.
