Studio and Year: 20th Century Fox – 2011
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Feature running time: 92 minutes
Genre: Drama
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Starring: Brit Marhling, William Mapother
Directed by: Mike Cahil
Music by: Fall on your sword
Written by: Brit Marling & Mike Cahill
Region Code: A
Blu-ray Disc release Date: November 29, 2011
Film Synopsis (courtesy of imdb.com):
Newcomer Brit Marling and fan favorite William Mapother (TV’s “Lost”) star as Rhoda and John, two people whose worlds collide after a tragic accident. Their intimate drama plays out against the astounding discovery of Earth 2, a parallel world that poses provocative and fascinating possibilities. Does a new Earth mean a chance at another life? Another destiny? Another self?
My Take:
The trailer for Another earth looked intriguing and left me eager to see what looked like a sci-fi/drama with an interesting concept. Unfortunately the trailer is very misleading. The screenplay merely uses its sci-fi elements as a backdrop for its dramatic storyline. Nothing wrong with the story, per-se, but if you’ve watched the trailer, you’d think that the sci-fi elements will be more powerful than a mere backdrop. The problem I have with this movie is that the promise of what Earth 2 holds is sort of attached to the proceedings and ultimately never materializes save for the film’s open ended final moment which is clearly open to interpretation.
On a positive note, looking at Another Earth from a dramatic perspective I found it to be quite good. The narrative about a relationship born out of tragedy with a foundation built upon pain, redemption, and deceit is compelling.
This audio/video presentation delivers fair overall quality. The 1.85:1 framed video isn’t as definitively resolved as the better high definition presentations I have seen on Blu-ray but it is more than acceptable. Images exhibit appreciable levels of detail that are scene dependent. Where appropriate, colours presented with proper level of saturation and clean rendering. Black levels are above average and shadow details reveals discernible structure in backgrounds during low light sequences and dark areas within the picture. Contrast is dynamically applied which occasionally overdrives whites but this appears intentional. Some minor problems such as digital noise and aliasing are detectable but not to an egregious level. The lossless audio presentation sounds fine. Dialogue is rendered clearly, with forward soundstage placement. Rear channel activity is limited to a few discrete effects and ambient surround sound that bridge the front and rear sound stages. This film relies more on dialogue and front sound field presence than it does on filling the room with sound effects and extremely deep bass. The end result is a decent audio presentation that capably renders this soundtrack in theatre room.
Equipment used for this review:
Anthem MRX-700 Receiver
Grandviewscreen 96” 21:9 matte-white 1.0-gain screen
PSB Century 300i (front and surround speakers)
PSB Image C5 (centre speaker)
PSB Subseries 300 (subwoofer)
Panasonic PT-AE4000U projector
Pioneer BDP-LX55 BD player
Ultralink Ambiance MKII speaker wires
Viewing room is as per THX and SMPTE recommendation with 45-degree Field of View
Audio: 7/10
Video (2D and 3D): 7/10
Storyline: 8/10
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