What a frustrating mess! You know all those 50's science fiction films loaded with stilted, baby-food expository dialogue? Well the writer/director of Earthling did the exact opposite to the extreme. Nothing is explained! An hour and half into the film and the audience is still left wondering who the main characters are, what their motivations are, and exactly what the plot of film is. Apparently the writer thought his audience was able to read his mind like the aliens in his screenplay. There are dozens of plot elements which are presented and then left to dry on the vine without any explanation about how they fit into the story. A few examples: the atmospheric disturbance at the beginning of the film - What caused it?, What was it's purpose? Never explained in the film; At one point, the astronaut's wife is referred to as his sister. Why? And there are many, many more...
Over and over again throughout the film, these little plot points are raised and then dropped without explanation, never to be heard from again. And the characters are barely introduced, sometimes appearing without any indication of who they are or how they fit into the story -- they're never explained, let alone developed..
Then there are the bizarre behaviors of the characters. A bunch of school teachers getting plastered at the local bar after school. Really? A student asking his teacher to take a drag off of a joint? What planet did this take place on? Not earth. These aren't crucial plot points and don't really serve to develop any characters, so why put that in the film? These types of behaviors by protagonists just erode civil society and I don't understand why producers insist on putting them into their films. And what's with all those agonizingly long, drawn-out bathtub scenes? Again they serve no point in the plot or tone of the film.
There was an almost-original story to be told here. As Liford says in the promo summary, "After a mysterious atmospheric event, a small group of people wake up to realize that their entire lives have been a lie. They are in fact aliens disguised as humans. Now they have to make a choice. Live amongst men, or try to find a way back home."
That sounds like an interesting story, but Earthing failed miserably in telling that story. At the bare minimum, a film has got to to get the story told! I generously gave it 3 stars because, without exception, the actors' performances were extraordinary despite what they had to work with. Also, the cinematography was well done.
Triggers: strobe effects, incest, child exploitation, graphic violence, suicide, drug promotion, racist language (including the N-word), racist casting, antisocial behavior by the protagonists.
