Hacker Cinema
The Man Who Fell to Earth
1976 · Film · 139 min
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. Aided by lawyer Oliver Farnsworth, Thomas uses his knowledge of advanced technology to create profitable inventions. While developing a method to transport water, Thomas meets Mary-Lou, a quiet hotel clerk, and begins to fall in love with her. Just as he is ready to leave Earth, Thomas is intercepted by the U.S. government, and his entire plan is threatened.
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9 comments on Hacker News
I watched Bowie's 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' after hearing a very wide range of opinions - love, hate, and "meh".
It's a very interesting film in somewhat the same vein as 2001 - It does not provide a narrative throughline and the conclusion is less than satisfying.
An unsatisfying narrative and conclusion is a double edged sword - it can lead people to think about the film for a longer time and ruminate on it - or it can make people angry and/or say stupid things. See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URo66iLNEZw
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I also think about Alex Garland's film 'Civil War'. It is very unsatisfying to never be told which side is the 'right' side, or what the war was about.
That unsatisfaction can make someone hate the movie, or it can be taken as commentary on war - it doesn't matter which side is right or what the fighting is for, no one wins a war. Winning a war is not morally satisfying. I think this is very very hard for Americans to understand, as our military tradition has centered on WWII.
I feel pretty confident in saying that no war that America fought after WWII has had a satisfying conclusion.
After 'Winning WWII' America also won the peace, which is actually why we can feel satisfied now. In no war before or since has America won the peace at anything close to the Post-WWII level.
Yes, I agree with the short story part, these are attractive to film makers and for instance I think all of the good Stephen King films are based on his short stories.
I always though Man who fell to earth (Bowie) was an (unofficial?) version of Stranger in a strange land, I can't think of any other Heinlein films apart from Starship Troopers (which is a pretty short story and nothing like the book).
Imagine what he spent on "x.com" getting back from his founding paypal in 2017
I'm convinced over the years he is some kind of weird "man who fell to earth" trying to fund something weird. (now I need to go watch that movie again, the cool original version with Bowie)
I take some guidance from this quote from the movie "The Man Who Fell To Earth":
"This is 20th century America and we're going to keep it that way"
The powerful will resist change that threatens their power. So change will only come via paths the powerful do not control. So look at everything that is not centralized and expect change to start to manifest there. Look at everything centralized and expect it to stay the same. Apply grains of salt as necessary since any generalization will always be imperfect. It's one way to think about long term change though.
>>"There's a tongue-in-cheek view that Elon Musk is a lonely alien just trying to get home. "
That's exactly the plot of this movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth
Tarkovsky's my favorite director, but I really did not like Solaris. For me, Tarkovsky's Stalker is the infinitely better film.
The Man Who Fell to Earth, Primer, Videodrome, Blade Runner, Brazil, A Clockwork Orange, Open Your Eyes (aka Abre Los Ojos), and Empire Strikes Back would be others I'd put on my favorite scifi movie list.
I've always thought of Man Who Fell To Earth as being a film of Stranger in a Strange Land. Brilliant "acting" by Bowie also.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth
In the "Man Who Fell to the Earth", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(film... the lead character is an extra terrestrial posing as a man, made a lot of money by being a technologist selling amazing "inventions" from his planet, and has a luxury apartment which turns out to be a spaceship, which is meant to cart water back to his planet, which has run out due to its use in power generation. Maybe Jobs is planning bring natural gas back to his planet?
In the "Man Who Fell to the Earth", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Fell_to_Earth_(film) the lead character is an extra terrestrial posing as a man, made a lot of money by being a technologist selling amazing "inventions" from his planet, and has a luxury apartment which turns out to be a spaceship, which is meant to cart water back to his planet, which has run out due to its use in power generation. Maybe Jobs is planning bring natural gas back to his planet?