The Man Who Fell To Earth (40th Anniversary) [DVD]

As with most Nick Roeg films, this is one for which the word 'over-rated' is an understatement. Leaving aside the heavy-handed camerawork ('Zoom in, man! Zoom in!'), terrible performances (Bowie swapping 'Cracked Actor' for plain Crap Actor),and low, low-budget sets, Roeg manages to strip Trevis' novel of literally everything about it that is interesting, moving or relevant. Making every character hideously unpleasant is a start: in the book Bryce is nothing like the rancid sex-pest of the film, and Newton actually has a personality of sorts. At least the Anthea scenes provide some laugh-out loud relief; especially the spaceship, which looks like something Roeg pinched from his neighbour's allotment. Bowie shouting 'Get back where you came from!' at a bank of TV sets is also a side-splitter. Other than the comic value, though, it's mostly just a load of rubbish.

Highly recommended. It captures the mood of the time perfectly. Although some of the scenes are obviously low-budget (particularly the scenes set on the alien's home planet) the storyline and cast are excellent. This is a very weird movie and won't be to everybody's taste. Back in the 1970s it was considered extreme risque, and even now some scenes might shock some people.

This may be considered to be a cult movie, but it deserves to be so much more than that. It is an awesome Masterpiece that captures perfectly the hedonistic culture of the 1970's, along with the dark side of Capitalism. It still resonates to this day on both those counts.

This is a must have if you are a Bowie fan. Nicholas Roeg's adaptation of a fascinating story, is a real throw back to 1970's America and very enchanting indeed. It is a little different from the book, which I read after watching the film and does leave you feeling that it was a weird film overall due to it's datedness and narrative. Probably not one you'd pull to show younger members of the family, due to it's graphic sexual scenes and not a film you can really compare to other favourite but definitely for what it is in itself, it is a gem to have. Bowie was really beautiful in this, being intensely lean and pale added to the fragility and ethereal quality of Jerome's character. LOVED it.

The subject of Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film adaptation of Walter Tevis' 1963 novel `The Man who fell to Earth' is an alien from a technologically advanced civilization on a dying planet, arriving on Earth on a covert mission to engineer the salvation of his own much-reduced species. At core, however, it's not really a sci-fi movie. Its subject is alienation (no pun intended), how immersion in late-20th century consumer society can be an addictive and draining experience which reduces the human spirit and diminishes the soul.David Bowie as the alien-fallen-to-Kentucky who calls himself `Thomas Newton' is perfect casting, not only because he looks so convincingly alien but because he manages to convey a sense of timidity, of being overwhelmed by the hyper-stimulation of his new environment. Bowie's performance settles somewhere between a nocturnal rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck and a fallen angel, corrupted by the seductiveness of 20th century human culture to the point where he becomes permanently damaged by the experience (Bowie later admitted he had been "stoned out of my mind from beginning to end" during the filming in New Mexico, so that might explain his unworldliness and seeming detachment). The film also contains a sinister conspiratorial element in that once Thomas' real ID is uncovered, the `authorities' work to ensure it's covered up and his alien-inspired hi-tech inventions are co-opted for their own nefarious purposes.As with Roeg's other work (`Performance', `Walkabout', `Don't Look Now') the narrative of the film is deceptively straightforward, with a sparse script and no complex sub-plots, but the themes are deep. Roeg's films are novelistic in tone, with fabulous cinematic imagery but not `dramatic' in an overt, theatrical way. The film takes its time, draws in the viewer, invites us to empathise with Thomas, feel for him in his new environment as he falls from grace and is reduced - by us and our values - to a lesser being. Thomas ends up as the very thing so many in our society aspire to be: a celebrity, a pop star, `famous' and A-list rich. For him, however, this represents not success but failure of mission, a fall, irredeemable corruption; reduced from the golden realm of the angels to the base currency of cultural icon. The film's title `The Man who fell to Earth' is revealed to be both literal and intentionally ironic.Criterion's blu-ray release of TMWFtE is excellent; a new restored high definition digital transfer supervised by Roeg, with plenty of extras. It's the full original European cinema version, so includes some material (including gratuitous nude scenes) edited out of the 1976 US cinema release by the censor.

The Man Who Fell to Earth. Fantastic. The plot is simple and quite clever, based on Walter Tevis' novel: An alien comes to Earth in order to save his planet and his family. They have run out of water. So he registers the patents of alien technology and builds a business empire to pay for space launches. But quickly the corrupting effect of human life causes him to deviate from his plan, corrodes his resolve and then mankind stops him from completing the mission.It's a wonderful film, made all the more wonderful for the very few special effects (and what special effects there are are small things to convey feelings and sensations rather than to wow the viewer).The dialogue is strong and feels real even when the film swoops into allegory. The direction is joyous in its non-conventional methods. The scene where Mary Lou discovers Thomas Newton is an alien is sticking in my mind, as is the scene with Newton sat before a bank of televisions with his glasses on, telling them to leave him alone.Bowie's performance (even though he slightly reminds me of Stan Laurel) is note perfect. He sells the innocence and naivety and otherworldliness of Thomas Newton, just as he sells the debauched version of the character and the resigned, defeated thing Newton becomes. Rip Torn is solid as Newton's betrayer (yes, there is a Jesus analogy to it all) and Candy Clark plays the airheaded devotion of Mary Lou just right.The extras are very interesting too, with an interview with Nicolas Roeg.At the price this is a veritable treasure trove.