It’s been a quiet year for sci-fi films and director Mike Cahill’s debut is unlikely to change that. Cahill’s first feature, which was supposedly a breakout hit at Sundance this year, can best be described as lo-fi sci-fi.

Rhoda (Brit Marling) is a bright young thing interested in all things outer space, who can often be found looking up into the sky. It’s no wonder then that she gets involved in a car crash whilst distracted by the appearance of a new planet above her.

The car she hits was driven by composer John Burroughs (William Mapother), with his wife and son as passengers. The crash was so severe that his wife and child died, and John himself fell into a coma.

Four years later and Rhoda is released from prison. The first thing she notices is that the planet she saw all those years ago now sits brightly in the sky. Everyone refers to it as Earth 2 and it seems that everyone is now fascinated with it. So much so that there is a planned trip there, with the opportunity of an average Joe joining the crew through an online competition. Rhoda finds herself entering, with the feint purpose of not only discovering a new planet, but hopefully rediscovering herself.

In the meantime she shelves her academic plans, choosing instead a menial cleaning job, in the hope of having as little human contact as possible.

Despite her efforts trying to get her life back on track, Rhoda is riddled with a crippling guilt. After some research, she finds out that John is out of his coma. She decides that for her life to move on in some way, she must confront the man whose family she destroyed.

Posing as a cleaning contractor offering a free trial, she turns up at John’s door. John has no idea who she is, as Rhoda was a minor when she committed the crime, therefore her identity was protected. With his house in quite a state, he lets her in. Acting as a surprise to them both, a relationship is formed. On top of this, Rhoda is also informed that she’s a lucky winner and has got that once in a lifetime opportunity to visit Earth 2. Although her life is now seemingly throwing her a lifeline of opportunities, she still has one hurdle yet to jump: to tell John who she really is and let him know that their paths have actually crossed before.

This new Google Earth app is really impressive!

Up to this point Cahill has only directed various documentaries, and it shows. Although his first film has an element of science fiction about it, its main focus is that of the relationship between two broken individuals. Not only is the dialogue sparse to say the least, Cahill’s camera techniques definitely feel borrowed from the school of fly-on-the-wall.

Cahill also seems to have been inspired by Duncan Jones’ Moon, the difference being that where Jones had a spectacular lunar backdrop to accentuate the isolationism of his film, Cahill has a bland and boring Earth locale. This means, sadly, that his film has to rely on the performances of his leads, which both of them struggle to deliver. It’s not entirely their fault, as the script has the kind of vacuum you could only find in space, with just as much atmosphere.

With its muted colours and performances, Another Earth only succeeds in being a major disappointment. It simply doesn’t offer enough of its science fiction element to be engaging, while focusing on a relationship that is too difficult to give a hill of beans about. With its plodding narrative and pace, this (so-called) sci-fi film just has far too much dead space.