Review of Earthling (2011) by Archibald T — 21 Jan 2013

The feeling of insignificance permeates this film as you view it. Mood triumphs over story, but when you're left in the dark all you can see is nothing. Images begin to make sense when characters don't and when that happens you have a film that doesn't really need your sympathy but is pretty to look at. Writer/Director Clay Liford isn't really interested in the details of his story, but is interested in how words travel back and forth. Especially the incoherent kind of words that only a group of pod people could understand.

Judith recently had a miscarriage. It's left her traumatized in the form of being emotionally withdrawn. Her husband isn't happy with his wife becoming less interested in their marriage and her work life (she's a school teacher) is also on the rocks. It's until a new student named Abby enters the fray. She keeps eyeballing Judith like a lion to it's prey. At first you may think you're witnessing a forbidden lesbian romance between a student and teacher only to find out that it's something much more erotic: Aliens.

Some have compared this to a Cronenberg film, but it is so much more closer to Charles Burns graphic novel 'Black Hole'. It may not be entirely inspired by it, but the mood of the film immediately got me thinking of that book. I have always wanted to see that graphic novel brought to life and this might be the closes I'll ever have to seeing it. I mean there were a couple of scenes that reminded me of that book. Like for example the fact that these characters have large mutated bumps on their foreheads which are to resemble tumors, but could be perfectly placed in the form of horns like a devil or demon would have. So close to that book in tone, but so very far away.

After a strange disturbance on the International Space Station sends back it's only survivor, he shares a sort of psychic link between himself and Judith. Judith dreams about this astronaut and something has to do with him carrying apart of the spiky asteroid-like ball that had struck the I.S.S. It's never exactly straight forward with you in what this ball really is. Is it a rescue pod? Does it link them back to the home planet? You see Judith, Abby and a few others have known that they're not really human. They've taken the human form because of...well, I don't fucking know. I mean it's never really explained. All I could figure out was that they tried their best to keep away from the signal that is leading them to the spiky ball because they want to stay on Earth? Also there's some type of impregnation subplot that didn't add up either and Abby was really a husband to Judith on another planet and blah blah blah. It made no fucking sense in the end.

This film's artistic merits stand up well. I'll give it that. So does the first act of the film which was done wonderfully. BUT IT FALLS THE FUCK APART AROUND THE ONE HOUR MARK! It begins to become an incoherent mess. You can even see it in the faces of the actors that they themselves don't really know what the fuck they're saying. Yeah. They show A LOT of emotion, but you can just feel they're out of the loop as much as we are. That was disappointing. The acting is great though. Rebecca Spense who plays Judith holds the film together, but even she can't hold the film up in the last act. Amelia Turner who played Abby was incredible and I'll be keeping my eye out for her films. It's just too fucking bad that Clay Liford couldn't at least elaborate more on WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! Instead he just has his characters spout of vague things that only THEY are more aware of then we are. It's starts off mysteriously beautiful before it evolved into a turd. A pretty turd, but a turd none the less.

Overall, this film had potential if it wasn't for the director's ADHD screenplay.