THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
This film is a pseudo sci-fi story about a woman who finds out - slowly - that she is in fact an alien; Earthling begins with a sequence aboard an orbital space station, with a mysterious object coming close to it and bringing chaos to the station - a lone survivor goes mad, calling mission control and telling them to "stay away" and "do not try to rescue us". Setting the tone for hard-core sci-fi, the real film begins with Judith, a college teacher, who is in hospital following a car crash - of which she does not remember, apparently because of her long-standing epilepsy. Lost in the car crash was also her unborn baby, which puts Judith in a period of extreme grief and near hallucinations.
During this self-destructive period, Judith begins to realise that "something is not right", and a new character is introduced to quicken the pace and guide the protagonist towards the realisation that she is in fact an alien - and so are many others - living "in disguise" on earth.
Now.. for the review. Earthling has at least two great points i can think of: it's acted superbly - we're not talking Hollywood tripe here, more like Tolstoy than Bay - and it's got a striking soundtrack.
Yes, i myself hate when a soundtrack is given such importance - after all, films are visual, and a soundtrack should add to the product, not be so prominent as to become an entity of itself - but together with the strong acting Earthling manages to create a truly intense atmosphere of anxiety and expectation. And unfortunately, this is where it all goes wrong - the atmosphere works against the film.
After all the plot points have been laid down, circa 50 minutes in, the great expectations of sci-fi awesomeness are shattered when the film runs dry.
I see how Earthling must have been someone's great first project and as that it's great, yet not perfect; one part of the filmmaker's job is to make sure that there is enough plot to keep the story going, and here there just isn't. The Astronaut's Wife saved the juicy bits for the last five minutes and it was a failure; The Man from Earth instead understood that if you don't have anymore sci-fi content, it's a good choice to move along and change the pace. Unfortunately Earthling doesn't do that, but tries to stick with the sci-fi theme even when the story calls for some serious eye-candy bonanza, of which there is none, and that's the end of the story.
Good direction, short-changed story, mediocre production, superb acting (if traditional), and a mesmerising soundtrack, worth a watch for anyone who is into filmmaking;
My final vote, 6/10 - watch it.
This film is a pseudo sci-fi story about a woman who finds out - slowly - that she is in fact an alien; Earthling begins with a sequence aboard an orbital space station, with a mysterious object coming close to it and bringing chaos to the station - a lone survivor goes mad, calling mission control and telling them to "stay away" and "do not try to rescue us". Setting the tone for hard-core sci-fi, the real film begins with Judith, a college teacher, who is in hospital following a car crash - of which she does not remember, apparently because of her long-standing epilepsy. Lost in the car crash was also her unborn baby, which puts Judith in a period of extreme grief and near hallucinations.
During this self-destructive period, Judith begins to realise that "something is not right", and a new character is introduced to quicken the pace and guide the protagonist towards the realisation that she is in fact an alien - and so are many others - living "in disguise" on earth.
Now.. for the review. Earthling has at least two great points i can think of: it's acted superbly - we're not talking Hollywood tripe here, more like Tolstoy than Bay - and it's got a striking soundtrack.
Yes, i myself hate when a soundtrack is given such importance - after all, films are visual, and a soundtrack should add to the product, not be so prominent as to become an entity of itself - but together with the strong acting Earthling manages to create a truly intense atmosphere of anxiety and expectation. And unfortunately, this is where it all goes wrong - the atmosphere works against the film.
After all the plot points have been laid down, circa 50 minutes in, the great expectations of sci-fi awesomeness are shattered when the film runs dry.
I see how Earthling must have been someone's great first project and as that it's great, yet not perfect; one part of the filmmaker's job is to make sure that there is enough plot to keep the story going, and here there just isn't. The Astronaut's Wife saved the juicy bits for the last five minutes and it was a failure; The Man from Earth instead understood that if you don't have anymore sci-fi content, it's a good choice to move along and change the pace. Unfortunately Earthling doesn't do that, but tries to stick with the sci-fi theme even when the story calls for some serious eye-candy bonanza, of which there is none, and that's the end of the story.
Good direction, short-changed story, mediocre production, superb acting (if traditional), and a mesmerising soundtrack, worth a watch for anyone who is into filmmaking;
My final vote, 6/10 - watch it.