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(2214) |
1147 |
4059 |
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(839) |
435 |
1538 |
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(1375) |
712 |
2521 |
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| Performance (0%) |
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Plot:
Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to create the vast fortune he needs to build a return spacecraft.. He...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:October 5, 2008ewcentric movie as its main actor: david bowie I relly did not understand if he was to return back to his planet or not , ie ehat happened
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MCT:August 31, 2008Disjointed and self-indulgent, this film conveys its story poorly, expounds lengthily while delivering little of value, and makes brave stylistic moves for styles sake. One may very well argue that the film conveys, if not coherency, then at least the "spirit" of alienation and disjointedness that the plot revolves around. In that regard, the film succeeds, but at the blatant risk of disregarding the plot entirely in an attempt to find its "soul." This isn't to say it tells no story... the story is just poorly told, constantly crippled by misplaced cinematic license.
This film at its worst fails to tell a story at all, and increasingly this is the case as the film progresses, becoming so enraptured with its capturing the essence of alienation that it alienates good portions of its audience.
This film is a cult film, indeed, but a cult film in the truest sense of the word: it is enjoyable to an elite who enjoy its rarity and odditiy, or by those who find kinship with its disjointed, dilated, and eerie essence. Unlike better cult films, there is little being said of value, little that can be gained by investing the time to understand it, and no true narrative (which is merely a foil, an excuse to indulge in an exercise of thematic expression) or meta-narrative (it tackles no real issues or cultural phenomena) to speak of beyond the phenomena of its heavy-handed effect.
Over-rated. -
MCT:August 7, 2008strange movie very 70's ... a bit crude but given the decade.... bowie did execellent in his role as Newton and supporting cast was okay, seemed a bit dull like they were off their high... not sure what to make of this but the ideas were interesting. it was not anything i expected yet seeing where they filmed was cool since it was nearby.
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MCT:July 24, 2008
strange and atmospheric, Bowie seems right at home with his persona....a moral tale that just always seems "off"..unusual bit of work but defintely worth watching
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MCT:July 1, 2008Nicolas Roeg's first film shot in America, The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) is a complex, difficult film which is as much about the reactions of a foreigner to the country as it is a traditional narrative. Typically, Roeg takes a straightforward source - in this case, Walter Tevis' novel - and cuts it up to suit his favoured style, which proceeds through the non-linear connection of images and ideas.
As with Mick Jagger in Performance (d. Donald Cammell/Roeg, 1970), Roeg uses David Bowie as much for his stage persona as for his acting abilities, although Bowie gives a fresh, naturalistic performance. The qualities of aloofness, strangeness and sexual androgyny which Bowie projected in his stage persona are integral to the scheme of the film, which demands Newton to be both recognisably human yet entirely alien.
Assisted by a script from his recurring collaborator Paul Mayersberg, Roeg uses his typically dazzling editing style to mix past and present, deliberately disrupting a traditional sense of time passing. He also makes notable use of the recurring images of water and, memorably, of Newton sitting, drugged, in front of a wall of television sets, whose programmes often ironically counterpoint the storyline.
Underneath the surface, this is a hackneyed moral tale of purity corrupted by experience, but it is distinguished by its style and the extraordinary images concocted by Roeg and his cinematographer Anthony Richmond. America seems a rich and strange country, impossibly overwhelming. The deserts of New Mexico are a potent image of aridity, reflected in flashbacks to Newton's planet. However, the repetitive use of explicit sex, although often amusing, seems included more for commercial than artistic reasons.
In its examination of loneliness and lost love, this is Roeg's most moving film. Like Chas in Performance and John in Don't Look Now (d. Roeg, 1973), Newton is an outsider in an alien world, whose inability to understand his new environment seals his fate. His quest for water is destined to fail because, to the outsider, America is too much of a distraction, and human frailty seems to infect everything it touches. -
MCT:June 27, 2008
That David Bowie is really an alien should come as no suprise to most.
Tom is a humanoid looking alien coming from a planet starved of water, to bring back the vital element to his wife and child. He starts up a company to finance the building of...(read more) space ship large enough to transport the water, but along the ways finds himself becoming more and more human, losing his mission and ideintity in the process.
Instead of the usual story of aliens comming to earth and making us all bow down before their special effects explosions, "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is a story of culture shock and corruption, but in a very "human" way.
By the film's end, Tom is neither human nor alien, he's caught between a future he cannot bring himself to embrace, and a past he cannot or will not return to. All characters are given a wieght and substance, sometimes at the expense of the pace of the plot. But this is part of Roeg's technique of keeping all characters in balance and out of easy cliche, editing back and forth, to show the wider world as it influences the main character, and vice versa.
The process of humanization is a painful one which we all endure, the tug of war between individuality and social responsibilty, between home and the great beyond. "The Last Man on Earth" uses the alien as allegory for this experience, and does an alright job.
Nicholas Roeg is not as masterful as with earlier films like "Walkabout", but it bears Roeg's trademark directing and editing style. Bowie and Roeg, may bite off a bit more than they can chew here, but the results are viable. "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is a decently directed, incredibly performed, introspective sci-fi drama. Like "Dellamorte Dellamore", this movie is stuck between crowds, the art-house and "serious" film buffs, might not take it for the shock of Bowie and Aliens in the same sentence, and most sci-fi fans probably wont like the pacing, odd editing, and more subdued themes. And it's too bad for both groups, this is the man who sold the world. -
MCT:May 20, 2008A very strange movie. I was eager to see what it was all about considering I am a fan of Bowie but, was a little dissappointed. It's not a bad idea for a film but it is made more for a man who is into sci-fi and lots of naked women. There are about 6 or 7 naked women having sex in this movie. It is also a little long, 2 hrs 14min, and could definately have been shortened... sorry to all the cult fans... it just didn't suit me.
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MCT:May 10, 2008Very interesting, not the best of Roeg, but few films can reach the heights of Don't Look Now. Acting was fine, well paced film. Bowie is perfectly cast as an alien. He has seldom if ever been better. Strange in parts. But overall a decent film.
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MCT:April 22, 2008
Sorry to say that I got very, very bored with this one. David Bowie is the man, but not enough spandex and too much sex with that same chick.
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MCT:January 30, 2008Subtle sci-fi social commentary brilliance from Nicholas Roeg. David Bowie is perfectly cast in the role of the alien.
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MCT:January 11, 2008The perfect role for David Bowie's acting debut. Thick with context and loads of psychedelic imagery. My personal favorite was the erotic scene using a mass of a thick milky substance. You've gotta love alien sex.
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MCT:January 2, 2008
Not impressed. Kept waiting for some kind of point that never came. I found myself flipping through a magazine and finding it more engrossing. That's a shame too, because I probably missed a plot point -- I MUST HAVE -- that would have explained things a little better. This is another case of being disappointed in a film that I waited years to see. Maybe if I had seen it when I first heard about it 30 years ago, I might have like it better.
Oh, and why does Candy Clark always talk like she's 8 years old? Of course, with a name like "Candy" I guess that's to be expected. -
MCT:November 20, 2007
I want to see this. I need to find this. Saw some scenes on t.v. years ago and was intimidated by the faces, and glasses. There was something creepy about it. I gotta see this with fresh eyes.
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MCT:November 1, 2007
Hell, why do people kick up such a big fuss when there are nude scenes in movies? While it is weird seeing one of my childhood icons full frontal nude he's just so convincing as an alien and he always has this innate style.
One of those really arty films I'll always be puzzled about -
MCT:September 30, 2007
I'm a Bowie fan so i enjoyed watching this. Everyone around me said it was too long and too slow. An alien comes to earth to get together the resources he needs to bring his family here as his own planet cannot sustain them any longer. He walks about the country "inventing" things and becoming rich enough to achieve his aim. A few distractions along the way as you'd expect but as I said, I liked it.
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MCT:August 9, 2007The only good thing about this movie is its lead actor David Bowie who perfectly fits the role of this strange 'person/alien' who fell to Earth. But neither Bowie can deliver this movie. (and belonging acting it's not really a good performance either - his face expression remains more or less the same in the whole movie, which is probably intended to help giving his character that weird appearance but finally fails also IMHO)
A plot (plot???) is not existing in the movie, which makes it very hard to like it I think. There will be people who enjoy this movie for being different and cult - but I'm pretty sure they did not really like it either (or at least weren't entertained by it) - because they didn't understand it, they just think that they've seen a piece of art with many messages and so on... (don't take that personal - perhaps I'm the fool who didn't get the message and all the sybolism that was in this movie)
I can really not recommend this movie, but you could like it if you are a fan of the movies by David Lynch and the later films by Federico Fellini... -
MCT:July 5, 2007
It's a science fiction film without a plot about an alien stuck on earth who becomes profoundly alienated. The whole movie is carried by Bowie's stunning performance as the man who fell to earth. While he says little, he owns every scene with his emaciated presence due to Bowie's real life diet of cocaine and skim milk. The film sometimes fails to stay focused, but overall an excellent film if you like slow, brooding pieces.
And the film contains the answer to your question about David Bowie's crotch seen in Labyrinth. -
MCT:July 5, 2007
Aside from interesting new things presented to the sci-fi genre, it is, for all purposes, a piece of crap.
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MCT:July 1, 2007
come on, people. i love david bowie, too, and i even like nicolas roeg. but this movie sucks. i was warned, and i saw it anyway because i liked these guys. the movie is awful.
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MCT:June 30, 2007
A brilliant study of genuis, passive aggression, and humanity, but maybe skim over the ugly 70s sex they added back into the special edition. *Not* speaking of sex scenes, this is the second movie I've seen a small woman carry David Bowie like he's a rag doll. The other was "The Hunger", from around the same period. No, David, drugs were not good for you.
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MCT:June 28, 2007
You think Bowie's scary in this movie? Just wait 'til he starts casting spells n' shit in Labyrinth!
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Comments
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queenradiogagaposted 257 days ago -
Bowie playing an alien, suits him like a hat pulled down at the front. From the man who brought us 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars' and Supermen and loving the alien. My fav scene is when his girl carrys him up the flight of stairs as his nose bleeds...
posted 505 days ago
