The Man from Earth Blu-ray features bad video and audio in this still mediocre Blu-ray release
At his farewell bash in a cabin in the remote woods, Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) makes a
shocking confession to his fellow scholars: he is actually an immortal who has been living on earth for the past
14,000 years. So begins this thought-provoking sci-fi drama which follows his colleagues as they struggle to
figure out whether Oldman is telling the truth or merely deranged. A long-running project of Star Trek and
Twilight Zone scribe Jerome Bixby, the film's screenplay was finally completed on his deathbed in 1998.
Every once in a great while, good things really do come to those who wait. The story completed
while its author lay on his deathbed, The Man From Earth was a film almost 20 years in
the making between Jerome Bixby's death in 1989 and the completion of the film in 2007,
not to mention the years the writer toyed with the idea while still churning out television scripts
for two of the medium's finest Science Fiction series. Bixby, writer for both "The Twilight Zone"
and "Star Trek" -- including the
episode "Mirror, Mirror" which would
serve as a catalyst for a number of episodes in "Deep Space Nine" and "Enterprise" -- never saw
what may very well be his magnum opus in The Man From Earth come to fruition. An
unassuming little film that features several "Star Trek" veterans -- including John Billingsley ("Dr.
Phlox" on "Enterprise"), Tony Todd (the elder Jake Sisko in one of "Star Trek's" finest episodes,
"Deep Space Nine's" "The Visitor"), and Richard Riehle (guest star on both "Enterprise" and the
classic "The Next Generation" episode "The Inner Light") -- The Man From Earth is not
only quintessential and must-see Science Fiction-themed contemplative cinema but also a
masterpiece of minimalist filmmaking
that once and for all proves that quality of story trumps all.
Who is John Oldman?
Scholar John Oldman (David Lee Smith) is relocating after ten years at his current position. A
select number of friends appear at his home for an impromptu get-together to celebrate their
friendship and wish John well in his future endeavors. Amongst the attendees are the Biologist
Harry (Billingsley); the Anthropologist Dan (Todd); the Christian Theologian Edith (Ellen
Crawford); and later, the Psychologist Dr. Will Gruber (Riehle). Soon after their arrival, John
surprises his guests with a bombshell revelation: he claims to be a 14,000-year-old man with his
origins in the Paleolithic Era, in essence a caveman who has lived through all of recorded history
and never aged a day after what he approximates to be his 35th birthday. John informs his
guests that, no matter his place in life, he is forced to relocate every decade before people begin
to realize that he's not aging. According to his story, John claims this to be the first time he's
said farewell as himself and not as a phony individual with a made-up name and background; his
respect for his colleagues' friendship and their intellectual acumen has facilitated the task of
telling his tale, a story that comes under fire from numerous points of view but seems to
maintain an air of validity with every passing exchange. John expertly -- and seemingly as a man
with countless lifetimes of experience -- deflects criticisms and answers questions with
satisfactory and believable responses that intrigue his captive audience that soon becomes
concerned for the mental well-being of their friend, whose claims become more unlikely and
upsetting with every revelation, leaving his friends to question not only the validity of John's
claims but the very nature of all they believe and have spent a lifetime trying to understand
about
the world around them in the physical, psychological, historical, and theological realms.
The Man From Earth is a fascinating and altogether enthralling film for a number of
different reasons. First, but definitely not foremost, is the picture's uncanny ability to mesmerize
its audience despite its stature as a picture the defines the term "minimalist." Shot on a
shoestring budget on what is literally a single set and with actors that do little more than talk, sit,
stand, or take the occasional sip of Johnnie Walker Green Label Scotch whisky, The Man From
Earth depends entirely on its story to succeed, and indeed, the entire film is but the single
telling of a fascinating yet difficult-to-swallow yarn that both captivates and angers both the
in-film audience and the at-home or in-cinema viewers. Audiences feel a part of the picture, a
member of John's captive crowd, eager to ask questions and soak up every syllable while
searching for a gaffe, a hole in the story, or to in some way prove or disprove his tale. Few films
draw in audiences quite like this; The Man From Earth feels like a tale spun around a
campfire by an expert storyteller who knows his story inside and out, a story told countless times
before and one that's intricately-woven, impeccably-told, sound in theory, and
implausible to even the educated and open mind but with too many coincidences, quick and witty
answers, and far too
much detail to simply be a fictional creation.
The Man From Earth feels more like a well-produced stage production than a motion
picture. Although the film's lone and simple set, single costumes, and the absence of more than
a few
cursory props would do well to lend the story to the stage, it's in the drama and the opportunity
for organic and bold performances that would truly allow this story to effortlessly morph into
captivating theater.
Nevertheless, The
Man From Earth works remarkably well as a film, and would work equally well in any other
medium that could properly convey the story and its drama and emotion, whether in the written
word or an audio recording or broadcast.
The Man From Earth is the ultimate storyteller's film, a picture that transcends its
medium and succeeds because it cares about absolutely nothing other than its story. Indeed,
The Man From Earth features direction that's of little artistic merit; Richard Schenkman,
more often than not, utilizes a rather basic point-and-shoot technique, implementing only a few
shots
of any sort of "artistic" value and moving the camera about as a means of only drawing attention
to a particular character, capturing the feel of the room as John tells his story, or simply to give
the film a bit of life outside the character's dialogue to remind audiences that, indeed, this is film
and not live theater or a first-person "live" account of the story.
The Man From Earth's story is
not complex but certainly requires thoughtful, engaging, and realistic performances to work, and
the ensemble cast to a man delivers a collection of astounding performances that simply sell the
story in every scene. David Lee Smith would seem to have the most difficult part, the actor faced
with the challenge of selling his colleagues on an impossible yarn; the actor nails the performance
in every scene no matter how far-fetched the story becomes or how his audience -- as a group or
on an individual level -- react to his tale. However, it's the supporting cast -- John's audience --
that prove themselves up to the challenge as they debate the merits, possibilities, and
ramifications of John's story, delving into a broad array of philosophical, historical, emotional,
psychological,
theological, and scientific arguments both pro and con. As each character finds themselves
personally affected by the story -- some more profoundly than others but each becoming in some
way emotionally invested in the tale -- the collection of actors display a wonderful range of
emotion and deliver their performances with a natural and unrehearsed flair that has the
audience believing the setting, understanding the reactions, and feeling involved with the story.
As to John's story itself, it is more than merely a superficial and lacking-in-complexity "what if?"
scenario. The Man From Earth engages its audience with a tale that's measured,
exact, and deeply-thought-provoking, supported all the more by a collection of baffled scholars
that cannot accept the story but cannot disprove it, either. Bixby's plot assembles a
group of intellectuals of varying fields that all are in some way relevant to the questioning and
understanding of John's tale; they become the de facto audience, positing questions and
constructing hypothetical scenarios to challenge -- often fruitlessly -- John's claims of a
14,000-year existence. They leave no stone unturned and allow the story to flow organically
from one topic to the next, and even when it takes a turn for the borderline absurd, there's no
questioning the revelations and developments as presented in the context of the wild but
seemingly substantiated
claims that have both in-film and at-home audiences baffled, intrigued, and motivated to learn
the validity -- or lack thereof -- of the story.
Indeed, Writer Jerome Bixby
painstakingly covers every angle, his story exploring many facets of what one might encounter
and come to understand and experience during the course of a 14,000-year existence, examining
not only the claim from medical, scientific, historical, and religious points of view, but also
exploring the deeper implications of the claim on those around John's person and, most
importantly, on his own psyche. Bixby has smartly penned John as a character that's
seemingly capable of processing his unique experience and explaining it in layman's terms but at
the same time with enough validity, intelligence, and self-assuredness so as to baffle some of the
world's top minds in various fields and,
more importantly, sell the viewer on the fact that there's no boundary between screen and
characters and that the events of the film and the discussions around it are as real and
purposeful as any metaphysical conversation that exists in the real world and outside the realm
of cinema. Few stories
-- and even fewer films -- sell themselves as unquestionably real but nevertheless obviously
fictional as this; The Man From Earth is a true work of art not of cinema but of
storytelling, Bixby's script a masterwork of manipulation and thought-provoking imagery that's
sure to challenge even the most intellectually sound, spiritually grounded, and both open- and
closed-minded of
audiences.
The Man From Earth earns a high definition release that's of standard-definition quality.
Though this 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer is as dismal as they come, it nevertheless seems
in-line with the film's extremely low-budget nature. At best, the film takes on the look of a
poorly-transfered DVD; colors are dull and flat throughout and fine object detail is limited to the
most obviously-noticeable objects -- for instance a woven sweater -- but as a general rule,
objects, characters, and backgrounds appear as lifeless and flat as can be. The image reveals the
occasional sharp outline, but most of the picture is excessively soft and smudgy, with some shots
appearing downright smeared and completely devoid of detail, the transfer sometimes retaining
only basic shapes of people and surrounding objects. Flesh tones take on a decidedly red hue,
and some scenes are accompanied by an excessive level of noise. Blacks often overwhelm the
screen and devour any details in their path. Additionally, the image exhibits a hint of banding
and a few compression artifacts. While the image is, in a world, ugly, it's difficult to downright
dismiss it as a terrible transfer. The absence of any special features negates the opportunity to
learn more about how and with what The Man From Earth was shot, but suffice it to say
this seems like a passably accurate representation of what the film might actually look like at the
source. Normally,
intentionally "ugly" films or those that are of a naturally messy condition are granted a score
that's reflective rather than unfairly critical of their nature, but considering the absence of
concrete data to more adequately judge this transfer, a lower-than-normal score is
awarded.
The Man From Earth arrives on Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack; no lossless
or
uncompressed options are available. Much like the video presentation, this track is good enough
to
get listeners through the movie and understand the dialogue, but it does nothing to convince the
listener of the environment. Still, dialogue can come across as slightly harsh and difficult to
make
out underneath what is a sloppily-presented score that's limited in range and absent of even
moderate clarity. Fortunately, most of the film's dialogue comes across clearly enough, though
there seems to be a few lip synch issues in various shots throughout the film. Music is replayed
with a limited range and little in the way of clarity. Surround speakers are used sparingly and
generally in support of music. Atmospherics are practically nonexistent, with only a few effects of
a
most basic sonic signature -- a crackling fire or buzzing insects -- reproduced well enough to allow
the listeners to place an object with the sound but not enough to convince the audience that
they are
part of the on-screen environment. Fortunately, The Man From Earth is a
dialogue-driven
picture and needs not a faultless soundtrack to work from thematic and dramatic perspectives,
and considering
the film's miniscule budget, this soundtrack seems fairly reflective of the picture's original sound
mix.
The Man From Earth is one of the greats of Science Fiction and, by extension, highly
thought-provoking cinema, but is also an
essential film for fully understanding the power of story to supersede all else. In an age where
big special effects and a glossy veneer sell tickets, movies like The Man From Earth seem
to be vanishing from the landscape as the importance -- not to mention the sheer power -- of
story seems trivial at best and absent at worst in so many pictures that seem hellbent on
sacrificing thematic integrity in favor of some flash-in-the-pan technology to momentarily excite
the senses but ultimately fail to elicit a deeply-rooted emotional and psychological response both
during and after the fact. The Man From
Earth
takes the opposite approach, the film meant to engender a flood of emotions from its viewers,
from fascination to anger and everything in between as John's story comes to fruition and builds
into something that will leave its audience questioning all they know about the world and
pondering a great number of possibilities and questions long after the film concludes. A thinking
man's picture in every sense of the term, The Man From Earth makes for must-see
cinema in the classic sense, the film transcending its medium and recalling the basics of engaging
storytelling in a film that's -- no surprise, really -- constructed around the conveyance of a story.
Although this Blu-ray disc from Starz/Anchor Bay has its flaws -- a downright ugly image but one
that nevertheless appears fairly faithful to its minimalist roots, a bare-minimum lossy soundtrack,
and no extras -- it's impossible not to give an enthusiastic recommendation to The Man From
Earth based on the strength of the film and the bargain selling price.
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