Another Earth

Having just been admitted to MIT, a brilliant young woman is on her way home from celebrating when an announcement plays over the radio that another planet has been discovered in our solar system. In that same minute, the woman drifts into the oncoming lane, killing a college professor's family while leaving him in a coma. After serving four years in prison, the woman reemerges into a life of misery and insinuates herself in the life of the bereaved professor. Now, a contest awarding relocation to the new planet offers her a chance at life anew. Mike Cahill's "Another Earth" is a well thought out and deeply felt quasi science fiction film. Brit Marling, who cowrote with Cahill, succeeds in evoking notions of sorrow, regret, and hope in her character and William Mapother, who I have regrettably not seen since the searing "In the Bedroom", is fine as well playing the grieving and angry professor. The film missteps in some regards. I would have omitted an entire unnecessary subplot involving one of Marling's coworkers. All and all though, this is an intriguing treatise on forgiveness and redemption.