Don't let this low-budget indie get crushed by the summer behemoths. Another Earth offers imagination and provocation to spare. By way of plot I'll say only this: Scientists have discovered a replica of Earth orbiting the sun. This is a game-changer for Rhoda (Brit Marling), an MIT student whose drunken joy ride resulted in the death of a pregnant mother and her son. Only the husband, music professor John Burroughs (William Mapother), survived. Can another Earth offer Rhoda salvation or just deeper damnation? Newcomer Marling, who wrote the artful script with director Mike Cahill, is a talent to watch. She and Cahill have crafted a mesmerizing mind-bender to haunt your dreams.

Related
• The 12 Must-See Summer Movies — Plus Five Unheralded Gems and Five More to Skip
• The Best and Worst Movies of 2011 — So Far

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.