Strictly average movie

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This is a film for the experienced cinephile. An average audience will probably get bored. David Bowie is an alien who lands on earth in search of water. This was the legendary singer's first starring role and he more than owns the role of a strange human trying to mix with humans. The surreal imagery by noted director Nicholas Roeg is a highlight and although the film wasn't a big hit either critically or commercially back when it was released, it has a huge following today. If you are a fan of science fiction you should check this out.

I must repeat the old cliche that the original story by Walter Tevis was much better than this film. In the story, Mr. Newton is a tragic figure who fails in his task, not entirely his fault. That's not entirely clear here. The film is confused, full of plot holes and inconsistencies and poorly directed. Production values seem to be on a par with 1970s television shows and not the best of those either. Though I normally agree with the approach of "show, don't tell", I believe this film would have benefitted from some explanation. Instead, it focuses on scattered details from the original story without knitting them together in any reasonable fashion. There is some solid acting here and it is a treat to see Bowie on screen. However, poor direction, an apparent lack of vision and chaotic editing don't help the story or the performances at all. The inept use of stock footage doesn't help as it often seems grossly out of place and seems to have little to do with the story. The same can be said of the soundtrack, which seems to rely on musical cliches. I saw this film when it was released and after all this time was curious to watch it again. In between I read the Tevis story and found that to be wonderful. Viewing this film a second time was disappointing. My criteria and expectations have grown in the 40 years that have passed. Sadly, this film did not age well. I don't think it even stands up against the better films of its era. I still watched all of it because I was a big Bowie fan. He never disappoints. He and the cast deserved better direction and a stronger vision, as did the story itself.

This is a weird movie, and compelling. David Bowie stars as himself: an alien, fallen to earth, whose moral vision is out of kilter with the humans around him. He is superb. His quietness, timing, movements, and thin otherworldly look are mesmerising. And despite his moral strangeness, he is sympathetic. He is one of the strangest characters in fiction: almost impossible to relate to, and yet constantly evoking our pity.The plot moves in fits and starts. Some moments stretch forever, and then suddenly it races ahead, and we find the same characters thrown together in new relationships. Things seem to be developing in a certain direction, and then suddenly turn and render what went before irrelevant. The whole movie is mysterious. Events are unexplained. Characters' motivations are cryptic. But it is never boring, because it is so suspenseful.It is a poetic movie. Often two or three scenes take place at once, and are spliced with the television Bowie is watching or the things he sees and imagines. Strange images come together. We get a sense of how his mind works, though it is often ambiguous whether all the different things we see are in his mind, or are simply coincidences.I loved this movie, but I found aspects of it less compelling. A subplot develops about the finances of the company Bowie founds, World Enterprises. Like the rest of the film, this subplot is weird, but unlike the rest, it doesn't work. The characters involved are ciphers. Thinking about it the next day, I can begin to see some connections between the subplot and the rest of the movie, but I still feel it was jarring and ill- managed.

While I consider myself a fan of director Nicolas Roeg - his WALKABOUT and DON'T LOOK NOW are two of my favourite films - and a fan of David Bowie's music, I didn't think much of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH at all. I don't mind arty films to a degree, but when a film becomes too abstract I tend to lose interest. This sci-fi oddity comes across as more of a collection of beautifully-shot vignettes rather than a real movie, and it suffers as a result.I think this film is trying too hard to be cult and in doing so it ends up alienating the mainstream audience instead. Certainly Bowie is effective as the alien visiting Earth, and you find it hard to think of anyone else who'd be as believable in the part, but what happens? There are endless, tastefully-shot sex scenes with Rip Torn and the like, some bad guys sitting around in their offices, and lots of surreal stuff. It's hardly THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. The cinematography is excellent as you'd expect, but I found this to be an incredibly hollow experience overall.