Another Earth - movie review

I saw the film "Another Earth" today. It's sad that many good, thought-provoking films are in limited release, but then again ones without big-name actors and lots of visual effects tend to have a smaller audience.

The film was good. I'd like to say very good, but feel instead that it hovered on the cusp of greatness.
For both good and bad, it's a movie with a lot of waiting. The characters take their time to react, which makes it more like real life. I found myself in a continual state of mentally urging them forward: "Come on, say it, do it," or "No, stop!". It made the moments of swift action that much more impacting.

The visual of the second earth, suspended in space beside the moon and growing ever larger and more distinct throughout the film, was seamless and stunning. It actually caught my breath a few times because of what it meant in the story: a second earth that had come into our earth's orbit, or vice versa, completely identical to our own. Identical down to each person who lived on that planet. The question was: were those people, those twins of everyone alive, exactly the same, all the time? Did they make all the same choices? That is the question that the film's protagonist, a twenty-one year-old girl named Rhoda, longs to discover. In one moment her life was shattered and she wants to know if the other her is living with the same fate, the same guilt, the same consequences.

It's a fascinating idea. Humans have always wondered if there's other life somewhere out in the universe. Hundreds of scenarios have been imagined and explored. But another you? Who may or may not make all the same choices? Would you want to meet this person, and if so, what would you say?

At the end, I felt as though I was still waiting, hoping for a little more resolution, a little more clarity. Even so, it left me with a slew of thoughts. Many situations in the film had me wondering, What would I do? What would I chose and say? There are so many things that we say are 'universal': pain, love, longing, regret, and hope being just a few. The film had a couple of interesting twists that let the viewer's imagination take over as to what the characters might do and feel on both earths. If there's ever a case where a competent author could take a film and turn it into a more fleshed-out book, I would strongly argue for this one. For now at least, I walked away thinking of the many vivid images in the film, and the possibilities it presented.

 Trailer - 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8hEwMMDtFY