Feather Chronicles 2017 Another Earth: Better Luck Next Time by Miranda Norton As we go through our lives we often make choices we regret. Most of our decisions are, perhaps, only drastically consequential to us with nominal outside impact. We stream a constant dialogue in our head, questioning our every move and word, wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. Another Earth explores the feelings of guilt and redemption, and the choices made when the option to escape our guilt is presented to us. The story of a young woman set on a path in life is violently thrust off this path by her choices, and is forever changed, and she must answer the question for herself. Which is better? To forgive? Or to forget? By showing the internal world of our character through the external uses of dialogue, color, imagery, and clever cinematography, director Mike Cahill and actress/screenwriter Brit Marling bring to life our own struggles with grief in this low budget, low fuss, science fiction film. Another Earth follows the story of Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), who at 17 is accepted into MIT for astrophysics. On the night of her acceptance, while driving home drunk from a party of celebration, the DJ on the radio announces that there has been a new discovery of another Earth. As young Rhoda peers out of the car to look at the blue dot in the sky that is the other Earth, she swerves into the lane of oncoming traffic and hits a stopped car occupied by a man, his pregnant wife, and their young son. The crash kills the woman and child, and the man, John Burroughs (William Mapother), is left in a coma. Rhoda serves four years in prison and never goes to college. Instead, once released from prison she finds work as a janitor at her old high school, and upon a chance encounter at the site of the crash with John Burroughs she seeks him out to apologize. Though instead of apologizing, she loses her nerve and begins to clean his house instead, and eventually starts wooing and sleeping with him. Throughout this story is the presence of the other Earth, and the chance for Rhoda to escape the troubles she has created for herself on this world and to find a second chance at the life she lost on what they call “Earth 2”. Rhoda and John are the main two characters seen throughout the story, with the majority of the dialogue. However, the supporting characters add a lot of meaning and depth to the story that, if left out, would leave the movie lacking. Purdeep (Kumar Pallana), an endearing coworker at Rhoda’s janitorial job, is one of these important side characters, if not the most important one. We only really see Purdeep in brief scenes until nearing a critical moment in the movie for Rhoda, when he blinds and deafens himself with bleach. Rhoda visits him in the hospital, upon her arrival she touches him to alert him of her presence, and he immediately knows who she is with nothing more than this brief physical contact. Purdeep explains why he would do something so drastic and damaging to himself: Purdeep: You want to know why. (Silence from Rhoda) Purdeep: No, no…no…you know why. Rhoda has curled up with him on his hospital bed at this point, and writes on his hand with her finger her answer. She spells out the letters F-O-R-G and a vertical line, and then the shot widens so the final letters are hidden. This leaves it for the viewer to interpret, and two words seem to come up more than any other possibilities. It is the constant question presented in this movie, which is better? To forgive, or to forget? In the very beginning of the movie Rhoda’s passion for space is introduced. It opens on a shot of Jupiter, with Rhoda narrating, “I saw this image when I was a kid….beautiful, but nothing special until shown in rapid succession. Suddenly Jupiter was alive, breathing…I was hypnotized”. Jupiter represents expanding growth and plenty, and is also associated with the search for knowledge. Also characterized by its Big Red Spot, it establishes the trend of red being used to show life and potential
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