The Man who fell to Earth (5 Stars)

"I'm not a scientist, but I know all things begin and end in eternity" (David Bowie, 1976).

When I was compiling my list of 30 films to watch before you die this was a near miss. It would definitely have been included if my list had been 50 films long. It would even have been included in a 35 film list. It's a masterpiece of cinematic art created by the legendary director Nicolas Roeg, who sadly passed away last month. He wasn't a prolific director, but whatever he did was good. He only made 12 films from 1971 till 2007, and no films at all for the last eleven years of his life. Two of his films belong to the best films ever made. One is "Don't look now" (1973), and the other is "The Man who fell to Earth" (1976). Both are films of such brilliance that they leave a lasting impression on anyone who sees them. I talked to my ex-wife about "Don't look now" after hearing about Roeg's death. She saw it only once in 1981. She says she didn't like it, but it's remarkable that she remembers it vividly, and she even remembers where she was when she watched it. That's the mark of a great film.

Both films have a similar style. There are quick cuts from one picture to another, often with unrelated scenes being shown in parallel. This was Nicolas Roeg's style. This is the style that became popular in music videos, which hadn't yet been invented, but Nicolas Roeg did it better.

One of the things I like most about "The Man who fell to Earth" is the way the story is thrown at the viewer, rather than being a steady narration. Many things pop up that aren't explained until later. Some things are shown, such as the observer in the opening scenes, that are never explained. He isn't relevant, but we don't find out till later that he isn't relevant. It's like a dream in which random things happen that seem more important than they really are.

There are some questions left open in the film. How did the alien played by David Bowie come to have a British passport? How long was he on the Earth? The events in the film seem to take place over a 30 year period, but flashbacks hint that he might have been on Earth for at least a hundred years before these events. We aren't told, and it's not important that we know. We're told just as much as we know in order to enjoy the film.

Nicolas Roeg
15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018

I'm sad that Nicolas Roeg has left so few films behind him after passing away. On the other hand, I have to admit that I haven't watched them all. For now I'll just re-watch the three films of his that I already have in my DVD and Blu-ray collection. I checked Amazon and found 11 of his 12 films on sale for reasonable prices. Four of them are on Blu-ray, the rest only on DVD. I also checked Netflix, and there are none of his films available for streaming. Not one. But what do you expect from Netflix anyway?

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