2011 Movies - Another Earth

Another Earth

On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet in the solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.

I'm blasting back to December 2011 today, because I thought I should really comment on this movie. It was a sci-fi drama... kind of. It's hard to categorise, but I can honestly say no film got to me as much as this one did last year. It was the last original film I saw in 2011 and even now I can't stop thinking about how I want to watch it again.

Basically, it tells the story of a young girl. She's smart and set on going to some great school in America, she has her whole life ahead of her, until she accidentally fucks everything up. She drink drives. She's listening to a radio station break some news on another planet visible in the night sky that has signs of life - so, like you would, she looks up to see if she can see it. But, it's not the best idea, drunk or otherwise, and she accidentally ploughs into a family in a car, killing the woman and child but leaving the husband in a coma.

Off she goes to jail, and when she comes out 5 or so years later she's a changed person. No longer being able to start a fantastic life she becomes somewhat of a hermit. All in this time people are investigating this new world that is getting continuously closer to Earth.

The guy who was in a coma is now awake and he, too, has become a shell of his former self - the story centres on her attempt to apologise for wrecking his life, but she can't go through with it and so accidentally becomes a cleaner in his house. They befriend each other - he, because he needs someone to talk to, and she because she wants to help him, but can't. They cling to each other and the relationship starts to take on an unexpected life of it's own.

In the meantime people are trying to contact this other planet, which is an exact duplicate of Earth - when they do make contact they decide to send some people over there, and hold a competition for civilians to go, because, well, why the hell not?

The girl enters and wins, and then decides to tell this man who she really is. And then all hell breaks loose for  everyone involved.

I've tried to write this with as little spoiler-ness as possible, so to describe the end all I can say is, this, much like Shame, is one that leaves you wanting more. You don't really know what the ending could mean, as there are many ways to interpret the events.

With a stunning soundtrack and a haunting storyline this film could be one of the greatest sci-fi dramas I have ever seen. 

Final Verdict: