Another Earth

I don't know if you've heard of this one, but it hit my RADAR recently and I had to check it out. The basic premise is that a second identical Earth suddenly pops up near our own (and is apparently on a collision course with ours, judging from the fact that it's getting bigger throughout the movie).

But that is not the actual story. The actual story is about a girl trying to recover and redeem herself after a horrible car accident that robs a man of his family. The story is not about redemption, specifically, but the idea of a world where we may have made different choices and possibly avoided the mistakes we've made in this one.

The idea of the parallel Earth is a beautiful metaphor hanging over the story for the separate roads we might have taken and the possibilities they might offer. It's not just a neat idea, but it's the perfect usage of a science fiction device to progress the theme of the story. There's so little legitimate science fiction now (and the filmmakers would probably argue against that label in this film), but this is what it's supposed to be.

It's beautifully told and very authentic in its performances. I don't gravitate to indies as much these days because they're mostly cynical and depressing, but despite this movie's intense topic I didn't find it to be either of those things. I think this is a story of hope and I came away with that feeling at the end. Definitely one to watch.