Capsule reviews for July 22

Another Earth
Many interesting ideas never quite come together in Another Earth, a low-budget science fiction tale that is admirable more for its effort than its execution. It’s about an aspiring astrophysicist (Brit Marling) who connects with a composer (William Mapother) out of a sense of guilt and grief following a tragic car accident. And it happens on the day that scientists discover a duplicate Earth. The ambition shown by Marling and rookie director Mike Cahill (who co-wrote the script) deserves praise, but their concepts are bogged down by too much pretentious narration and self-conscious weirdness. Marling, however, proves herself as an actress to watch in the future. (Rated PG-13, 92 minutes)

A Little Help
The uneven family drama A Little Help is buoyed by a smart lead performance by Jenna Fischer (TV’s “The Office”) as a Long Island dental hygienist forced to deal with a series of personal crises, including the sudden death of her husband (Chris O’Donnell), which leads to her overbearing family and a medical malpractice lawyer trying to make decisions on her behalf. Fischer conveys the right balance of strength and vulnerability as a woman trying to get her life turned around. The film tries to examine family bonds and the grieving process, but it doesn’t add up to much outside of a few powerful moments. (Rated R, 109 minutes)

Sarah’s Key
Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name is Sarah’s Key, a poignant Holocaust drama that connects a family’s imprisonment during the 1940s with the life of a contemporary journalist researching the period. Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas is excellent as usual in a bilingual role as Julia, a magazine writer who discovers a link between her family and that of a young French girl who escaped a Nazi camp in 1942. The flashback sequences are powerful, yet the movie’s attempts to merge past and present don’t quite achieve the desired emotional impact. Still, it maintains a compelling sense of mystery while avoiding an overindulgence in sentimentality. (Rated PG-13, 111 minutes)