Every movie has particular strong points that attract viewers. Some movies set out the dialogue as their powers, some use great visual effect, some are full with actions, and some other are filled with good cast that acts perfectly. Some even combine them all. “The Man From Earth”, I must say, is noticed for its script or dialogue.
“The Man From Earth” comes with relatively not interesting package. However, I love the story idea. “The Man From Earth” talks about a professor named John Oldman (played by David Lee Smith) that was about to leave to his new home. He was packaging his things when suddenly his collegueas came to make an unexpected farewell party. In the party, then, he revealed that he actually never ages and has walked the earth for 14,000 years. Isn’t that interesting?
Almost the whole duration of the movie took place in a room. The writer, Jerome Bixby, chose not to explore any other power of this work: he mainly focused on the development of the dialogue that reveals something “shocking”. So, in this movie, you will mostly watch people talking to others about something. However, this “something” is the substantial point and it is really interesting for me. I could say that the writer was so brave to make something untouchable interesting.
"What if a man from the Upper Paleolithic had survived until the present day?" -- John Oldman
No great cast, no special camera setting, and no significant cinematography. It comes only with story premise that should not be revealed earlier to maintain the attracting effect of the story. That is why, in my first opinion, this movie has a big opportunity to flop and unnoticed. However, you know, I love this kind of movie: movies that come with simple, relatively not attracting package but has something interesting inside. After you watched this movie, you’d realize that yes, this movie is surprising but it is not that amazing. I must agree that, but I ... just love it. I love the way the writer hides everything back inside without showing off things it doesn’t have. I love this kind of simplicity in movies.
Well, I know that you guys must be guessing what this movie talks about but I truly secure this post from any kinds of spoiler. All I can say is that “The Man From Earth” is arguable, quite philosophical, and, again, shocking. If you love philosophy and debatable materials, you will love this movie. In addition, please take this movie unseriously and open-minded because, though it is quite arguable, I prefer to believe that it is just a work of fiction.
“The Man From Earth” potentially bore you. Unless you pay attention to the dialogue, I guarantee that you will lose track of the story and end up sleeping along the duration. However, again, if you like movies that make you think, you should consider “The Man From Earth”. By focusing only to the story and dialogue, “The Man From Earth” has an incredibly powerful point that makes it more interesting than how it seems.
DETAILS & CREDITS
THE MAN FROM EARTH | COUNTRY USA YEAR 2007 MPAA n.a. GENRE Drama, Sci-Fi RUNTIME 87 mins CAST David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, Annika Peterson WRITER Jerome Bixby DIRECTOR Richard Schenkman AWARDS Grand Prize Rhode Island International Film Festival, another 1 win & 1 nomination BUDGET/GROSS $200,000 (est.) / n.a. IMDB RATING 7.9/10 METASCORE n.a. TOMATOMETER n.a. MORE INFO
ACCEPTABLE
DETAILS & CREDITS
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