review by Grant Berridge Crew
The Man Who Fell to Earth 1976
Watched Jul 07, 2012
Grant Berridge’s review:
A strange film about an alien, disguised as a youthful and thin David Bowie, who comes to Earth for a drink of water (wtf?). He becomes a wealthy tycoon by selling silver rings for $20 (wtf?). He longs to get home to his family, but a dream sequence seems to indicate that they've most likely died of dehydration. Nevertheless, he bootstraps a private space program so he can return to his home planet now that he's had his glass of water.
In the opening scene, he survives the plummet through our atmosphere, but soon thereafter he suffers a near-fatal nosebleed (wtf?) when a hotel elevator goes too fast to the 5th floor for him to acclimatise (wtf?). He shacks up with the annoying, alcoholic hotel porter who rescues him from the elevator catastrophe, and soon he also turns to booze.
After that, it gets a little hard to follow. Something about Bernie Casey from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure... He has a nice pool and a beautiful wife, but there's no real clue as to why he's in the film. The music indicates that he's somehow threatening, but he always seems like quite a nice guy to me.
There's a long sequence towards the end where Bowie stirs his drink with a large revolver, then sucks the drips off the end of it before rubbing his girlfriend's tender parts with the barrel. Then he fires the gun straight at her head, after a protracted and sadistic monologue about how he's going to kill her. She doesn't die, apparently because he was just joking. There's an extended, trippy scene of the two of them shooting the shit out of each other with blanks. I'm not sure I followed the symbolism.
Then the film ends, and I'm dumbstruck. What. The. Fuck? What happened? Who was that guy with the thing? What were those rings he was selling? What was all that crap about X-rays?
This film is not worth the investment of 2 hours of your time, even if you're dying to see Bowie's cock (wtf?)
Crew
(wtf?)
Crew
Thanks Grant, I just removed this film from my watch list.
Crew
I think that's wise. Re-watch Labyrinth for a better Bowie experience.
what did you think of Candy Clark's performance?
Crew
I didn't understand her motivation, and I think she was mis-directed a lot. At the beginning I thought she was just a bad B-grade actress, but she definitely demonstrates some range throughout the film. She's good looking, too, which helps.
There's a change that comes over her, mid-film, where she goes from a doe-eyed, love-struck girl to a screaming, neglected wife within a few seconds. That scene was so jarringly un-telegraphed that I wondered if she'd mis-read the script. That's an error in direction though, not an acting slip up.
To be honest, I found her character annoying, extraneous and absurd, and her pants-wetting scene was so unnecessary as to be unintentionally hilarious. How did Mary-Lou make the mental switch from uncontrollable terror to sexual need so quickly? There was nothing in her history to suggest she had the mental strength to endure the shock of seeing Newton without his disguise.
BTW - why the interest in Candy Clark particularly?
I was curious of your thoughts on Candy Clark's performance because I read a couple of reviews and essays touting her performance. In Robert Lloyd's essay he says that she was the "best of all" and I've never been more confused in my film viewing life. What I am missing? I thought her performance was one of the worst I have ever seen on film.
I do agree with you that it is not all Clark's fault, most of the blame should be placed on Roeg since his other films suggest that prefers his actresses to give over-the-top performances.
The entire scene of Newton exposing his true identity, starting from the slow-motion cookie slapping to the pants-wetting scene to the scene of the two of them naked in bed, was unbelievably bizarre and, as you said "unintentionally hilarious".
Crew
Well, maybe we both missed something? She was better in Buffy the Vampire Slayer if you ask me. :-)
Having said that, I'd like to take a look at those reviews/essays if you still have the links? I hate to be the fool that missed the point, and this film has too high a status to be summarily ignored. If there's more to it than I saw on first watch, then maybe there's an important lesson in cinema appreciation that I've missed. I'm always glad to be re-educated.
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/386-the-man-who-fell-to-earth-loving-the-alien
This is Graham Fuller's essay which doesn't really say anything about Clark's performance but does offer some insight into the novel and the butchering it received when it came to the US. I think this essay, while talking about the poignancy of the film, actually shows how much Roeg botched the entire film, in my mind. It seems like you need to read the novel in conjuction with the film to get the full effect.
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/807-the-man-who-fell-to-earth
This is Robert Lloyd's essay which is the one I mentioned concerning Candy Clark's performance.
Crew
Awesome. Many thanks for that.
I liked this review after reading the first sentence. Thank you for that.