As Another Earth opens, we meet Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a high school senior who has a bright future ahead of her, as he’s been accepted to MIT. Driving home from a party where she had several drinks, Brit hears a news story on the radio that scientists have discovered a planet in our solar system which appears to be Earth’s twin. Gazing into the sky to see the blue dot, Rhoda slams head-on into another care, killing two of the passengers. Rhoda emerges from jail four years later a changed person. She returns home to her parents, but she no longer has any ambitions. She takes a job as a janitor at her old high school. Wracked with guilt, she decides to approach the lone survivor of the accident, John Burroughs (William Mapother), and apologize. However, when she reaches his house and sees that he’s become a disheveled recluse. She loses her nerve and lies, saying that she’s from a cleaning service. John hires her, and Rhoda begins to spend a lot of time at his house, getting to know him. Meanwhile, Rhoda enters a contest in which the prize is a trip to Earth 2.

Another Earth is a small, quiet film, but there is a lot going on here. The movie could have easily made Earth 2 and the fervor surrounding its discovery the center of the story, but it doesn’t, deciding instead to focus on Rhoda and John. In fact, we rarely see other characters in the movie. By doing this, a movie with a decidedly science fiction idea becomes very human, and, I hate to say this, down to Earth. However, that’s not to say that co-writers Marling and Director Mike Cahill haven’t incorporated some clever elements here. Ostensibly, Earth 2 could have been any far off land to which Rhoda wanted to escape. Instead we get a new wrinkle. Scientists discover that not only does the planet look like Earth, but everyone may have a version of themselves living there. Therefore, Rhoda dreams of escaping to a place where her other self may not have made the same mistakes that she did.

Yes, Another Earth brings in some heady ideas but at times it feels as if Cahill, who has worked on documentaries in the past and is making his narrative film debut here, can’t keep up with his own material. Staying true to his roots (I guess), he incorporates a documentary style aesthetic to the movie, using zooms and focus during shots. This style pulled me out of the movie and I felt that it didn’t fit the feel of the movie at all. Mapother and Marling are both very good here, and their performances are very genuine. I didn’t need a documentary style to make this all seem more “real”. There are also some issues with the pacing of the film. Cahill works hard to give some of Another Earth a dream-like quality, when we simply want it to get back to the story. I also had a huge problem with how the movie waited a long time to clarify why John didn’t recognize Rhoda.

Those issues aside, and trust me, those problems feel very glaring at times, Another Earth is still a powerful film. I found myself getting involved in Rhoda’s story and become frustrated that she didn’t get back to the life which she had before the accident. The movie chooses to keep the characters at a distance, so we don’t always grasp their motivations, but we care about them nonetheless. The major event in the finale is somewhat predictable, but the movie’s final shot is very powerful and shows how a single image can deliver a ton of story. The idea of a parallel Earth may not be an original one (although I’m sure some viewers won’t know that), I’ve never seen it take a backseat to a dramatic tale like this. Another Earth is flawed, but the acting and the emotions help to make it a trip worth taking.

Another Earth proves that women don’t look good in a Michael Myers outfit on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, and there are no defects from the source material. There some slight grain in some shots, but this seems to be a side-effect of the documentary style. Likewise, this style results in some shots which are somewhat dark, but this isn’t caused by the transfer. The colors look fine, and the image has a nice amount of detail, as we can see every pore on Rhoda’s face in close ups. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are detailed and show good separation. There are some moments where we clearly hear sounds from off-screen in the front channels. The surround sound effects are a bit shy, but they help out with musical cues and some key sounds.

The Another Earth Blu-ray Disc contains a number of extras. The Disc contains seven DELETED SCENES which run about 9 minutes. We get to see Rhoda interacting with someone other than John, and there's an abandoned scene which shows how the other Earth effected our planet. There is also a brief scene which would have come at the beginning of the film. There are three "Fox Movie Channel Presents" interviews; One with Director Mike Cahill (4 minutes), one with Brit Marling (4 minutes), and one with William Mapother (4 minutes). "The Science Behind Another Earth" (3 minutes) has Cahill and Marling discussing the film's ideas with Astrophysicist Dr. Richard Berendzen. Cahill and Marling then discuss the origins of the film and story in "Creating Another Earth" (2 minutes). We get the MUSIC VIDEO for the song "The First Time I Saw Jupiter" by Fall on Your Sword. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.