The Man Who Fell to Earth (1 disc) DVD

Nic Roeg's science-fiction classic The Man Who Fell To Earth has never looked better than in this revelatory Blu-ray edition, with David Bowie perfect in a part he was... Read on

Nic Roeg's science-fiction classic The Man Who Fell To Earth has never looked better than in this revelatory Blu-ray edition, with David Bowie perfect in a part he was never able to top. This 35th Anniversary edition reminds us that Roeg's brilliance was often matched by ill-focussed indulgence (notably in the interminable, unerotic sexual encounters), but it's still a mesmerising film. Co-stars Candy Clark, Rip Torn and Buck Henry remain as impressive as ever. The film was based on the cult novel by Walter Tevis. Hide

Whilst watching this wonderful film, one is irrestably drawn to pondering 2 big questions - (1) how did Nic Roeg manage to make something so complex, challenging and u... Read on

Whilst watching this wonderful film, one is irrestably drawn to pondering 2 big questions - (1) how did Nic Roeg manage to make something so complex, challenging and uncommercial with the backing of a big studio, and (2) just why did his career go into free-fall in the 80's?

At his best Nic Roeg was the finest director to come out of Britain since Michael Powell (another British director who rejected the stereotypical notions of British restraint and good taste in his films). Sadly the days when studios invested in and encouraged such talent seem to be over, and after the great but commercially and critically disastrous "Eureka" Mr. Roeg never achieved the same spark of genius in his films. But "The Man Who Fell to Earth" is a worthy representation of this director at his most ambitious, maddening and extreme. If you've never seen it
before, you're in for a memorable experience.

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Roeg takes Walter Tevis' pulp novel and transforms it into one of the most complex and intertextually rewarding films in cinema's short history. David Bowie plays the ... Read on

Roeg takes Walter Tevis' pulp novel and transforms it into one of the most complex and intertextually rewarding films in cinema's short history. David Bowie plays the extra-terrestrial who falls to earth in a do-or-die mission to save the inhabitants of his dying planet. With his super-intelligence he soon gains control of various multi-corporations and amasses a huge fortune in the process. As he strives to construct a space programme with the capabilities of reaching his desolate world, he falls prey to the pernicious vices of capitalist society.
As with all Roeg's films, the deceptively thin story is embellished by the imagination of a supreme artistic craftsman. The narrative is stretched and twisted so that the past runs into the future into the present; the soundtrack complements the visuals with breathtaking juxtapositions; and the editing collides images that blend with each other across time and space to produce meanings that other directors can only fail to match.


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