The Man Who Fell to Earth

Starring: David Bowie, Rip Torn Director: Nicolas Roeg Dvd Release: 25th August, 1998 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Colour, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen, Region 0 Encoding

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The Man Who Fell To Earth is a novel by Walter Tevis about an extraterrestrial who lands on earth. The novel served as the basis for a well-regarded 1976 Nicolas Roeg film & a less-successful 1987 television adaptation. The original film starred David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark & Buck Henry. Images from the film appear on the covers of the Bowie albums Station to Station & Low, which are said to contain fragments of the soundtrack music he wrote for the film, but which was not used. The hero rises to incredible wealth as the head of a technology-based conglomerate. However, he ultimately fails in his mission to save his dying planet & ends up trapped on earth, broken, lonely & embittered.

While other films directed by Nicolas Roeg have attained similar cult status , none has been as hotly debated as this languid but oddly fascinating adaptation of the science fiction novel by Walter Tevis. In The Man Who Fell to Earth, David Bowie plays the alien of the title, who arrives on Earth with hopes of finding a way to save his own planet from turning into an arid wasteland. He funds this effort by capitalising on several highly lucrative inventions, & in so doing becomes the powerful leader of an international corporate conglomerate. But his success has negative consequences as well, his contact with Earth has a disintegrating effect that sends him into a tailspin of disorientation & metaphysical despair. The sexual attention of a cheerful young woman doesnt do much to change his outlook, & his introduction to liquor proves even more devastating, until, finally, it looks as though his visit to Earth may be a permanent one. The Man Who Fell to Earth is definitely not for every taste, its a highly contemplative, primarily visual experience that Roeg directs as an abstract treatise on the alienating effects of an over-commercialised society. Stimulating & hypnotic or frightfully dull, depending on your receptivity to its loosely knit ideas, its at least in part about not belonging, about being disconnected from the world, about being a stranger in a strange land when theres really no place like home. , .

Nicolas Roeg, born Nicolas Jack Roeg on August 15, 1928 in London, England, is an internationally-known film director. His work gained acclaim in film circles for his use of the cut-up technique. External Link Further Reading Nicolas Roeg, Neil Feineman, Boston. Twayne, 1978. The Films of Nicolas Roeg. Myth & Mind, John Izod, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1992. Fragile Geometry. The Films, Philosophy & Misadventures of Nicolas Roeg, Joseph Lanza, New York. Paj Publications, 1989. The Films of Nicolas Roeg, Neil Sinyard, London. Letts, 1991.

Editors Choice: Two Deaths, Eureka, Bad Timing, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Dont Look Now, Walkabout, Aria, View DVDology

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