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The Man From Earth
Directed by: Richard Shenkman
Starring: David Lee Smith
Genre:
Science Fiction/
Drama/Independent
Run Time: 87
min.
Release Date:
November 2007
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
John Oldman (David Lee
Smith) has been a history professor for ten years and is now preparing
to move away from the school he’s dedicated a decade to. The reasons are
initially his own until a group of his fellow friends and professors
come by to say goodbye and he drops a bombshell on them; he claims to be
a caveman who’s lived eons and eons, witnessing historical events and
even being part of that history that we thought we knew.
The group of professors that come by to send him off are a complex
group: a religious studies professor, another that’s an English prof, a
psych prof, and a few others that round out a pretty decent world view.
Initially all of John’s fellow colleagues challenge him, but his
arguments are solid and disturbing. But is John for real? Or does he
need psychotropic medications?
The thing about THE MAN FROM EARTH is that it’s a stage-play put into
film form. The entire movie is pure character exposition and dialogue
with no action, flashbacks, or other techniques most movie-goers have
become accustomed to. And this is both a strength and a weakness. The
strength comes from the strong scripting of the dialogue that keeps the
viewer interested and wondering how it will all pan out. The weakness is
that it makes for incredibly slow pacing. Thankfully the The Man From
Earth is only 87 minutes long, not stretching out its length and thus
causing great yawns from the watchers.
The other strength within the movie is the acting. All of the characters
were believable and the actors and actresses played their parts very
well (being frustrated or angry or sad or scared, etc.). But the filming
was tough to watch. Too many times the shots looked grainy or
underexposed, giving it a B-movie feel; that was unfortunate.
Even so, this is an interesting treatise on humanity and how we might
deal with the unexplainable should a friend thrust a near impossible
quandary upon us.
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Image from The Man From
Earth
DVD cost: $19.99
Purchase:
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Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
Acclaimed science fiction
writer Jerome Bixby originally conceived this story back in the early
1960's. It would come to be his last great work, finally completing the
screenplay on his deathbed in April of 1998.
Movie Quote: "He
hasn't aged a day in ten years."
Other Actors/Actresses
from The Man From Earth
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