Artists Public Domain,

Brit Marling, William Mapother, Kumar Pallana, Robin Lord Taylor, Jordan Baker, Flint Beverage, Matthew-Lee Erlbach

Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling) is an astrophysics student who has just been accepted to MIT. After partying it up, celebrating with some friends, she is driving home a little under the influence. She accidentally crashes into a car with a man, John Burroughs (William Mapother), his wife and son. John is in a coma, and the rest of the family is killed. Coincidentally this is the day a second earth is found in the sky, identical in all ways to earth, setting the science word on it’s ear trying to figure out what it’s about. Rhoda is sent to jail for the DUI, and gives up her hopes of going to MIT and becomes a janitor. Rocked with guilt, she decides to visit John, who’s now living alone with the pain, to tell him she was the one who killed his wife and kids, but she loses her nerve and instead volunteers to give him a “sample” cleaning as part of a marketing plan for her phoney employee. As she gets closer to John, they start a very inappropriate relationship. The mystery of the other Earth, and the guilt Rhoda feels, along with John’s pain brings the movie to a stunning conclusion.

This is a very strange film. It is an independent, Sundance Film Festival kind of film that is very cerebral. Though advertised as a science fiction film, there is much, more going on here than the science of the duplicate earth. It’s much more metaphoric and symbolic than a science fiction thriller. The big issues are with the pain John feels over the loss of his family, and even more about the guilt and redemption Rhoda is feeling and seeking. This is a very slow developing story, but is very though provoking. How would you feel if your entire family was yanked away from you and you’re left alone? And what if by a stupid mistake, you caused the pain and suffering to another person. How could you ever make up for that? And could you try? These are the kind of things that this movie really addresses.

Would I call it a science fiction film? Yes, I certainly would because this is a kind of science fiction story, certainly. No it’s not ET or Aliens, but it does offer us a fictional account of a very strange series of events.

So everyone is not going to love this movie. If you hate slow, cerebral films, you’re going to hate this. But, on the other hand, if you like to think your way through a movie, this is a very interesting premise, and well executed methodically and slowly, step by step.

This is one of those obscure films that I like to find from time to time. It’s certain an interesting concept and I enjoyed it

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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