The Man From Earth
It's rare to find a science fiction movie with no special effects, no monsters, no aliens, no spaceships, no laboratories or mad scientists. Rarer still to find a movie--any movie--that features nothing but a group of people talking, yet manages to fascinate and captivate.
The Man From Earth is all of that, and despite its shoestring budget and flaws (poor lighting, wooden acting in places, certain plot/plausibility holes), I enjoyed it more than any big-budget production I've seen in years.
The premise is simple: A group of college professors gather in a rustic cabin to bid farewell to their friend, John Oldman, a popular tenured professor who abruptly resigned his position. When they press John for an explanation, he admits his great secret: He's a caveman. He's walked the Earth for 14,000 years, always forced to move on when people begin to notice that he's not aging.
Is he a madman, a liar, or a genetic freak? As the evening wears on his friends move through various stages of belief and disbelief, each drawing on his or her own specialty--biology, paleontology, religion, history--to try to challenge John's story. The script, the final work of the late, acclaimed science fiction writer/screenwriter Jerome Bixby, has a few groaner moments but overall it's intelligent, compelling, and thought-provoking.
Highly recommended. It's available on DVD or through Netflix's "Instant Watch" feature.
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wordswoman) wrote,
