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The Man From Earth

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Man From Earth

Gene Steinberg said:
I saw this the other night and I have to agree that this was an enjoyable, thought-provoking 90 minutes. What a change from the popcorn crap that's infiltrated the industry.
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Yeah, I mean how many times can you go to a theater and essentially see the same movie? How many times have we been treated to movies like Strange Wilderness?
 
I'll reedit this post - basically people reading this forum will prob have a greater Apprecation for the film i'm changing decent to highly recommended. A Decent watch for a film is a film called "Alien visitor". Yea Its got a out there name but is a piece of work, Its quite old so won't be in the dvd store down the road. http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Alien_Visitor/60002158
 
Man From Earth

GSB said:
I know what the commenter means about documentation. The whole time I was just thinking "Show them your degree form 1840 Oxford!!" Didnt happen.
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I have my grandfather's medical degree from Chattanooga Medical College dated 1894. I framed it and hung it on the wall because it looks so cool, being in Latin and all. But, you see, that was actually me. I just used a different name back then. Here's a grainy old photograph of him. It's not just the family resemblance you see. That's me with a beard. I dyed it grey so it made me look like I was aging.
 
I just watched it a second time. I think the John Oldman character was extremely well done--best of the lot. The only time that character screwed up was when he claimed he thought Columbus might fall of the edge of the earth. C'mon! The idea that the world was round had been well-known for 2,000 years prior to Columbus, back to Greek times at least. This flat earth idea is totally bogus in history as well as the film. I'm OK with the JC thing now. Perhaps it was necessary to tweak the issue a little more fully.

Tony Todd as Dan was good, too. But Edith I just did not find believable. She went from "Oh, I love you to being skeptical, to open hostility, then to credulous belief before becoming lovey again. I appreciate she was playing a role, so maybe it was the role I found disquieting and unbelievable. She went from a person of faith saying, "You CAN'T be Jesus, dammit!" to "Oh, dear, maybe you are really him!" like Judge Reinhold in 'Santa Clause" "Gee, you really ARE Santa!"

I found "Art" to be doing the same thing. He would go from extreme anger to "Gee, then what happened?" in a heartbeat. And poor Will Gruber. He was all over the map, obviously a psychiatrist who needed lots of help. (We know one of the reasons why! :-)

Guess I'll have to watch it again.
 
Man From Earth

Ralph said:
I disagree with one point made in the movie. In previous centuries, I am sure that if a person was able to study a single subject for several hundred years, they would be able to develop an understanding far ahead of their peers. My observations are that it takes approximately 20 years of education to reach a level of understanding of the world that is required to make any significant contribution to a field. A person then has approximately 35 of useful working life to make a significant research contribution, and to pass that knowledge and approach (most often in an imperfect way, only being able to pass on a portion of your understanding) onto future generations.
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I don't know about that. You have to take in consideration his past and how that affects how he sees the present and the future. 10 years is literally a blink of the eye to him. A ten year degree for him is just a passing interest in the subject.

Lets assume that he has 10 degrees over the past 100 years. That is only .7% of his life for all the degrees. Extrapolate that to 10 years for a degree and 10 more years applying it. That is only .14% of his life spent within the subject matter. Compare that to 10 year degrees and 10 year tenures for the other professors in the room.(lets say their average age is 45) That is 44% of their life at that time.

So, lets put it in perspective. If the average professor is 45 and they spend .14% of their life researching something, then they get to study it for a mere 23 days. A 14,000 year old guy would se other interesting fields develop and want to learn about those. Then something else pops up and before he knows it he is 40 years removed from his previous knowledge on the subject. That's why the same rules just don't apply for him. He is just accumulating fragments of knowledge along the way in my opinion. It truly was a fascinating concept.

Ralph said:
Imagine how much more productive a person could be if they could live for 100 or 500, (or 14,000) productive years of experience and research in an area. You could be WAY ahead of anyone else.
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Yeah, but who would want to? when you are able to experience many life times, would you really lock yourself into one field? I think it is not very likely. I think our mortality drives us to have a "Life's Work". If you were immortal, and 14000 years certainly implies it, then perhaps the diversity of experience would be your life work. I dunno, but it sure is cool to think about.
 
Schuyler said:
I just watched it a second time. I think the John Oldman character was extremely well done--best of the lot. The only time that character screwed up was when he claimed he thought Columbus might fall of the edge of the earth. C'mon! The idea that the world was round had been well-known for 2,000 years prior to Columbus, back to Greek times at least. This flat earth idea is totally bogus in history as well as the film. I'm OK with the JC thing now. Perhaps it was necessary to tweak the issue a little more fully.

Tony Todd as Dan was good, too. But Edith I just did not find believable. She went from "Oh, I love you to being skeptical, to open hostility, then to credulous belief before becoming lovey again. I appreciate she was playing a role, so maybe it was the role I found disquieting and unbelievable. She went from a person of faith saying, "You CAN'T be Jesus, dammit!" to "Oh, dear, maybe you are really him!" like Judge Reinhold in 'Santa Clause" "Gee, you really ARE Santa!"

I found "Art" to be doing the same thing. He would go from extreme anger to "Gee, then what happened?" in a heartbeat. And poor Will Gruber. He was all over the map, obviously a psychiatrist who needed lots of help. (We know one of the reasons why! :-)

Guess I'll have to watch it again.[/quoteDuring the middle ages the catholic church considered that the world to be flat'' and that our world was in centre of the universe. Of course theories existed that the world was round,but this mainly existed among scientists or students of the sciences' '..... These individuals were heavily hounded by the church for heresy''.......This expedition was based on the catholic church views of the world at the time:)
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During the middle ages the catholic church considered that the world to be flat'' and that our world was in centre of the universe. Of course theories existed that the world was round,but this mainly existed among scientists or students of the sciences' '..... These individuals were heavily hounded by the church for heresy''.......This expedition was based on the catholic church views of the world at the time:)
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But John Oldman wasn't Catholic. He'd been Babylonian, Sumerian, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman prior to the rise of Christianity. Surely he did not regress to believing the earth was flat.

I also agree with the previous poster that he would not have become a super-expert by having more time to study. That is addressed in the film. He could not have easily risen above the 'known standards' of the time, so his Biology PhD from he 1800's, for example, was way out of date. Of course, had civilization fallen dramatically, that's a different issue--but that was not addressed in the movie.

Did anyone notice the items in the box Gruber looked in? The book titke was "The Phenomenology of Memory" by John Oldman. The degree was a PhD in anthropology made out to Jonathan Oldman from Universitas Barverdieus dated June 14, 2001. that seems a bit incongruous to me.

My complete review of the film is here: http://bixbysmanfromearth.blogspot.com/
 
This film has become kind of an obsession with me. :) After seeing it a few more times I have to revise my opinion of it. It's getting better. I have a revised review over at http://bixbysmanfromearth.blogspot.com/. I also found a script for it. I linked to the script rather than posted it. The revoew is also here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6242707/Jerome-Bixbys-Man-from-Earth-a-review which is easier to read. I'm also working on the issue of 'bad acting' that so many critics have brought up. I really don't believe that. Most of the acting was pretty good and I don't think the critics would know good acting if they saw it. Thanks once again to David for turning us onto the film.
 
I'm having some kind of funny synchronicities here. I just got this one in the mail today. Probably won't get around to watching it until tomorrow. I responded to an earlier thread about 'Signs' and I just watched another Shamalayan flick yesterday...'The Lady in the Water'. I feel dirty in a way that may never wash off after that crap-fest.
 
I enjoyed it but, I also agree that once it got to him being Jesus Christ, it went too far.

I did not need explosions or anything but I got very frustrated with the fact that the character did not at a certain dramatic point speak in many, many, many, different languages including some ancient and dead languages.

It would have provided for a really creepy moment in the film, and would have made a lot more sense the the JC stuff.

John
 
Thought it was an intelligent screenplay. The characters were well defined and well played. The budgetary constraints were obvious. It would have been cool if we could have seen some more detailed flash-back sequences...I'll give it 4 out of 5 for originality. It definitely had the sort of dialogue-oriented dramatic pacing you'd expect from vintage Twilight Zone...not everyone is going to get it. Those suffering from a bad case of chronic religious myopia would do well to steer clear.
I've seen several good films lately...If you can dig this one, you might also enjoy...'Tideland', and 'The Saddest Music In the World." Both very challenging and beautiful films. I also laughed my ass off at 'The Foot Fist Way.' If you think 'weird' is a bad thing, go watch some Seinfeld reruns.
 
This was a very interesting film. It's even funner to temporarily suspend disbelief and participate in entertaining the possibilities of Oldman's story as it unfolds. Regarding the production quality issue, I'm a staunch audiophile/videophile and usually the first to run out of a theater screaming to have my eyes gouged out at the first sign of poor production quality. But for some strange reason, not only was the quality bearable, it didn't even bother me in the least. It was more of a mental acknowledgment than a criticism.
I found the part where Oldman recounts the time when he was JC fascinating and I believe this was the key to the goodness of this story. Some say this was over the top, but it needs no less than this very twist to make it a good film. Would it have been enough if he claimed to be merely an apostle?
 
skunkape said:
I'm having some kind of funny synchronicities here. I just got this one in the mail today. Probably won't get around to watching it until tomorrow. I responded to an earlier thread about 'Signs' and I just watched another Shamalayan flick yesterday...'The Lady in the Water'. I feel dirty in a way that may never wash off after that crap-fest.
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Well, if you want the joy of a real cinematic suppository, watch his latest travesty... The Happening.

My God. The fact that this idiot gets his movies funded let alone made tells me a shaved retarded lab monkey with tourettes could write something more coherent and intelligent.

It made Plan 9 From outer space look like Schindler's List.

Seriously, it was a fucking retarded movie, for stupid people, because stupid people like to feel smart when they watch eco-shit like that.
 
Man From Earth

Ralph said:
Just finished watching "Man from Earth". Thanks David for suggesting it. I enjoy movies that play with your head afterwards - this is one of them. I'll be thinking about it for the next few days (and nights)!

Raises interesting questions on the acceptance of the incredible testimony of a "credible witness" that are relevant to the paranormal.

I disagree with one point made in the movie. In previous centuries, I am sure that if a person was able to study a single subject for several hundred years, they would be able to develop an understanding far ahead of their peers. My observations are that it takes approximately 20 years of education to reach a level of understanding of the world that is required to make any significant contribution to a field. A person then has approximately 35 of useful working life to make a significant research contribution, and to pass that knowledge and approach (most often in an imperfect way, only being able to pass on a portion of your understanding) onto future generations.

Imagine how much more productive a person could be if they could live for 100 or 500 , (or 14,000) productive years of experience and research in an area. You could be WAY ahead of anyone else.

I suspect, however, that with the advent of cheap books, and further with computers, knowledge is able to be passed on with better fidelity, and the advantages of an extra long life are diminished.

Thanks again for the recommendation David.

Regards
Ralph
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You can pass on knowledge (although still imperfectly, since you can't control what your readers will understand), but you can't pass on wisdom or experience.
And there is still a limit on how much knowledge someone can accumulate within a reasonable time frame - and as the knowledge accumulated by the culture as a whole increases, that problem becomes more acute.

As we refine technologies they become more and more difficult for someone to become comprehensively expert in, forcing people to specialise...which carries the great risk that the specialist can miss a vital perspective that lies outside of their area of specialisation.
 
I liked the movie.

When he revealed that he was actually Jesus, I thought myself: "Right on, the script writer was really goin' for it!"

Beyond that - it would make a nice stage play.
 
I thought it would have been cooler if at the very end, a slimy, tentacled alien burst out of his skull and ate everybody...and can I get some titties and an explosion over here!
 
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