New worlds to conquer

Friday, Aug. 19 — The discovery of another planet identical to our own is thestarting point for director Mike Cahill’s “Another Earth,” a moody drama that’snot so much science-fiction as it is an in-depth character study. Instead ofconcentrating on what’s out there in the cosmos, the screenplay by Cahill andstar Brit Marling points its telescope instead at the human heart.

Marling, in a performance of impressive subtlety and quietpower, plays Rhoda Williams, a New England teenager who dreams of traveling tothe stars until a horrendous accident changes the course of her life. While everyonearound her marvels at the possibilities of a parallel planet, Rhoda strugglesto put her own world back together and to deal with former classmates who giveher strange looks and don’t know exactly how to talk to her.

Eventually, fate brings Rhoda back to music professor JohnBurroughs (William Mapother), who was also involved in the tragedy. Like Rhoda,he has been completely devastated by what happened; he now spends his timesitting around his deteriorating salt-box house, dwelling on the past and notgiving a thought to the future. He does, however, wonder about thepossibilities of Earth 2, which seems to be inhabited by carbon copies of the Earth’sinhabitants.

“I can’t stop thinking about it — another me up there,” hetells Rhoda.

“If you met yourself, what would you say?” Rhoda asks. As itturns out, the question is not entirely hypothetical.

Cahill has shot the film mostly in cold, harsh colors andblue-gray tones that echo the chilly, drizzly weather that Rhoda and John mustcontinually slog through. The rough rack-focus shots and sometimes jitterycamerawork are appropriate for a story built around shattered souls, and so isthe inventive score by Fall On Your Sword, which mixes electronic bleeps andblips with bursts of choral music in a combination that’s strangely seductive.

Marling and Mapother’s straightforward, unfiltered emotionsare like the cracked walls and peeling paint in John’s home: impossible tooverlook. The yearning in Mapother’s eyes and the desire for acceptance inMarling’s are heartbreaking.

There is so much that works in “Another Earth” that it’sslightly disappointing that the story has to build up to one of those “bigrevelations” that will completely rearrange John and Rhoda’s situations onceagain. The beauty of Cahill and Marling’s writing is in the incisive littledetails and unexpected allusions they include (John’s comparison of thediscovery of Earth 2 to Plato’s allegory about the cave; the similaritiesbetween United Space Ventures CEO and pitchman Keith Harding and VirginCEO/showman Richard Branson, etc.).

Although the new planet is always in the background(sometimes literally), the drama is primarily grounded in Rhoda and John’sincreasingly intimate interactions. The contrast between the film’s fantasticelements and the painful healing process both of them are going through drivesthe film, and it’s not impossible to imagine “Another Earth” working quite wellas a small-scale theater piece. Who needs special effects when you’ve got acouple of truly special performances?

"Another Earth" is now playing exclusively at NCG Eastwood Cinemas.