The Man From Earth

[RyanLevy]

Hello all,

I recently watched the movie: The Man From Earth, and I loved it.

I was just wondering if anyone else has seen it and what they have thought of it?

 

[T J]

Ah, we get one of these threads ever few months since this movie came out. The general consensus was most loved it and thought it was brilliant. Including me.

 

[jimbtnp2]

Hello all,

I recently watched the movie: The Man From Earth, and I loved it.

I was just wondering if anyone else has seen it and what they have thought of it?

Reminded me TW - very good

not for everyone with its pace - lack of action

but it goes to show you that even on a shoestring budget you can make interesting scifi (or movies in general)

 

[Harvey]

I rather enjoyed it. A very interesting concept. At times, the execution was hampered by the incredibly small budget and short shooting schedule of the film, but the material was so rich and intriguing that my attention was held for the entire film.

 

[Amaris]

I enjoyed it and found it to be refreshing and brilliant.

J.

 

[Shurik]

I loved it and thought it was brilliant.

 

[Mistral]

I can't find the damn thing-Blockbuster doesn't have any copies and Borders doesn't even list it in their databanks! GRRRR!

 

[nevermore]

I rather enjoyed it. A very interesting concept. At times, the execution was hampered by the incredibly small budget and short shooting schedule of the film, but the material was so rich and intriguing that my attention was held for the entire film.

IIRC, it was originally written as a play. The entire thing consists of one giant thought experiment; I don't think it really needed anything more than a room and some decent acting, which is what it had. Anything more elaborate would have completely robbed it of its intriguing ambiguity. I thought it was essentially perfect as it was.

In what way do you feel it suffered? Or, perhaps I should ask, what do you think a larger budget would have done to improve it?

Interestingly this is one of those instances that show the advantage of peer-to-peer distribution of films and such. The film apparently had no buzz until it hit the torrent networks and then it just went viral and the filmmakers actually made their money back, becasue people like me, who watched it through downloading it turned around a bought the DVDs. They even went so far as to write letters of appreciation to the people who run some of the torrent sites.

I can't find the damn thing-Blockbuster doesn't have any copies and Borders doesn't even list it in their databanks! GRRRR!

Amazon has it for $14.99. It's well worth the blind buy. http://www.amazon.com/Jerome-Bixbys-Earth-John-Billingsley/dp/B000UYX4Q8

 

[Paxil]

Netflix has it.

 

[firehawk12]

I rather enjoyed it. A very interesting concept. At times, the execution was hampered by the incredibly small budget and short shooting schedule of the film, but the material was so rich and intriguing that my attention was held for the entire film.

IIRC, it was originally written as a play. The entire thing consists of one giant thought experiment; I don't think it really needed anything more than a room and some decent acting, which is what it had. Anything more elaborate would have completely robbed it of its intriguing ambiguity. I thought it was essentially perfect as it was.

In what way do you feel it suffered? Or, perhaps I should ask, what do you think a larger budget would have done to improve it?

Interestingly this is one of those instances that show the advantage of peer-to-peer distribution of films and such. The film apparently had no buzz until it hit the torrent networks and then it just went viral and the filmmakers actually made their money back, becasue people like me, who watched it through downloading it turned around a bought the DVDs. They even went so far as to write letters of appreciation to the people who run some of the torrent sites.

It certainly felt like a play shot on film rather than a film proper. Still, it worked because it wasn't a film where you were expecting great visuals anyway.

 

[SalvorHardin]

One of the best films I've seen this year.
Interesting concept, nicely executed and acted.

I found out about it from a thread here in the bbs.

 

[God Magnus]

It's funny, between this and "Sunshine" I wonder who's ahead in terms of new threads being started every few months. It really speaks to how these films kind of creep out slowly but surely.

I thought this film was fantastic. It's a wonderful example of classic science fiction that doesn't require big 'splosions and fx. It did feel very much like a play and I'd actually love to see this performed live.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Netflix has it.

You can even do it as a View Now on Netflix.

Great film.

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

I streamed this the other day from Netflix.

Amazing.

Pure sci-fi in only one room. You have to respect that.

If you complain about a lack of action; you're either an idiot, or your pituitary gland hasn't fully kicked in yet.

I love this movie.

 

[FALCONX0N]

I saw this flick at a film festival before it was fully released, a few years back--it was the headliner for their sci-fi programming (the next year it'd be replaced by "Blood Car," so make of that what you will). I was really impressed with the story, thought it was a great, solid sci-fi flick, with great acting...for about half the cast. The rest I thought were positively maudlin. Still very much well worth your time, though I didn't care for the 'surprise' ending.

 

[Harvey]

It's coming to Blu-Ray early this year, according to Amazon. Not that it's a particularly stunning film visually, but it wasn't too expensive to pre-order last time I checked.

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

Still very much well worth your time, though I didn't care for the 'surprise' ending.

I am not really sure what you are talking about here. Maybe you could spoiler tag what you thought was surprising if you think it would spoil anyone?

I thought that it was all of a piece.

 

[stonester1]

Absolutely incredible small budget indie science fiction. The angels sing a ditty whenever one of these comes around.

 

[The Master of Tarquin Hill]

The angels sing a ditty whenever one of these comes around.

How ironic.

 

[FALCONX0N]

Still very much well worth your time, though I didn't care for the 'surprise' ending.

I am not really sure what you are talking about here. Maybe you could spoiler tag what you thought was surprising if you think it would spoil anyone?

I thought that it was all of a piece.

The whole

Spoiler: SPOILERY SPOILER

Mister Immortal being the other guy's father

thing. I can't recall if it was properly foreshadowed (I should probably give this one a rewatch), but I do remember just thinking it was a little OTT for such a subdued film. I also remember thinking that Tony Todd was excellent in the movie.