Review: The Man from Earth [2007]
Movies | (Tagged david lee smith greatest american hero jerome bixby netflix night of the living dead perry mason sci-fi star trek the man from earth tony todd william katt)
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An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he is an immortal who has walked the earth for 14,000 years. (Eric Wilkinson, IMDB)
You’d think this is a boring movie, the Man from Earth and I’d grant you that. The entire film takes place in an old, rustic cabin in the middle of nowhere. But it should be said that this is the last screenplay written by sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby, the man who brought you the episode “Mirror, Mirror” on Star Trek and, among other things. And apparently this man knows how to keep an audience in place for the 87 minutes this movie runs.
I guess part of the reason I got through it was because I was working on updating a website, and I missed the beginning, where John Oldman (David Lee Smith) and friends are helping him pack up and sitting in the living room talking. I did stop to watch a scene where he asks a simple question, what if a caveman lived until modern times, and then announces that he is indeed a caveman. Out of nowhere, that guy who tried to kill himself in Office Space enters the cabin and challenges Oldman’s story—which Oldman passes as true. What follows is not fantastical story filled with sabretooth tigers, wooly mammoths, primitive nomadic societies hunting bison, but a simple round-table challenge and response from the old friends. We never know if Oldman is telling the truth or not throughout the majority of the movie.
The entire film is played out in and around the house. Nothing fancy, just a few Hi-Def video cameras around a cabin. No flashbacks, no special effects. It’s such a low-budget movie it feels like a gem you happen to find walking down the street. Indeed, one of my coworkers had recommended it through Netflix, and I found myself captivated by the story Oldman wove about his life from being a child in the Mesopotamian era (or whenever he was actually born, I can’t recall). When someone asks if he remembers the fourteen thousand years he’s been alive, he says he remembers the high points, the low points, just like real people. He talks about religion. Cultural themes. Societies. History.
Oh crap I forgot, fucking TONY TODD is in this movie, too! Tony Todd, in case you don’t know, has been in a million awesome movies, including all three Final Destination movies, the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, and the TV show Chuck, which I don’t really watch so I can’t say anything All I know is, Tony Todd plays Dan the anthropologist, and is one of my favorite characters. Dan seems to believe the stories, with some reservations. You never really know what he thinks of Oldman, though you know Dan respects Oldman.
Another actor I dug seeing was William Kat, as Art the archeologist. I think his presence just reminded me that I was a kid of the 80′s and loved the Greatest American Hero and the Perry Mason TV movies.
The movie isn’t very long, which is both a good and bad thing. 87 minutes is enough time to be watching the same set of four walls—especially after the Jesus talk. And, while the movie, at times, played out like a theatre production on a two-night run, this pseudo-sci-fi movie kept you engaged as it moved forward, from one mystery of this old man to the next. The Man from Earth is quite thought-provoking and kind of amazing and I wish you could watch it right now.
Oh wait, you could! Assuming you have BitTorrent.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Comments (4)
… OR asuuming people actually pay for the ‘art’, if you will, that they are watching (or perhaps a better word would be “enjoying”) maybe they might want to take a clue from your co-worker and rent the film from Netflix (www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Man_from_Earth/70076096?trkid=222336&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1379815998_0_0)
… or instead of “bit torrenting” the film you could watch it at Amazon (www.amazon.com/The-Man-From-Earth/dp/B001D0BI5W/ref=pd_ts_atv_4?ie=UTF8&s=digital-video)
… or, the best value would be is to BUY the DVD from Amazon (www.amazon.com/Jerome-Bixbys-Earth-David-Smith/dp/B000UYX4Q8/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1222524318&sr=8-1) as they have the best price ($7.49) as I think you would agree with me that given all of the information that the main character John Oldman throws at you, it definitely warrants repeat viewings.
If none of those options work and you positively, absolutely must go to P2P sites to “see” the film, please understand that we are just some independent filmmakers who put everything we had into our little movie, and you really hurt us directly when you downloaded the movie illegally.
Judging from the postings at IMDB.com and wonderful comments such as yours, the vast majority of you quite like the film; many of you even love the film and have watched it repeatedly.
We made this movie with a great deal of love, sacrifice and effort on a low budget. But as low as the budget was, it was still a LOT of money to us, as well as to the people who trusted us with their investment to go ahead and make such an unusual, even controversial film.
So we are making an unusual request… asking you to return the love, if you will:
If you are goint to watch our film by way of bit torrent or P2P sites, please visit http://www.manfromearth.com, and make some sort of donation in exchange for the enjoyment our movie brought you. It could be fifty cents, it could be fifty dollars. Perhaps you feel the average weekly video store rental is a fair amount. Whatever it is, it might be small to you, but if every single person who downloaded the movie — heck, if only the people who LIKED the movie — donated a few dollars, would certainly help get us to breakeven. Just go to http://www.manfromearth.com and click on “donate” (you don’t even need to have an account). The address to use is ewilkinson100@comcast.net.
The money you donate will go DIRECTLY towards everone who worked on and invested in our dream. And who knows… if we ever do break even on “Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth”, maybe we can go make another intelligent, thought-provoking film.
Again, thanks for your kind words. I’m really glad that you liked the movie. I would love it if you could go to IMDb.com and post your comments (and you could promote your blog) for others to see. That certainly helps our ranking.
Sincerely,
Eric D. Wilkinson
Producer
Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth
You know, you’re right. I took the links off the post entry.
Everybody, go to http://www.manfromearth.com instead.
Jay,
Please know, I understand the importance that P2P played in promoting the film (jut google the name of the movie and you will see) and I also understand that some people are just going to see the film (and in some cases, it’s the only way thay can see it by way of P2P. I was just saying that if theat’s the way you are going to watch “Man From Earth” by way of bit torrent sites, it wouldn’t hurt to make some sort of donation.
I’m so glad you liked the movie. I just finished another one called “iMurders”, which we are shopping around now. It’s much more of a “popcorn” movie, but fun, none the less.
Thanks again.
Eric
Haha. You got served!