Zachary FenellThe Man From Earth
January 9th 2009 16:08
The Man From Earth, 2007
Some people know Jeromy Bixby as one of the writers of the original Star Trek television series. He also worked on the Fantastic Voyage series and he gave us It! The Terror From Outer Space. Most people know absolutely nothing about him whatsoever, though, and that may even be better: if you don't know about "the Vampire Beyond Space", you'll have no expectations when you sit down to watch the Man From Earth.
I'd personally like to bill this as "15,000-year-old Cro-Mag Refuses Tenure", but that's just crazy - no one in our day and age would turn down the stability of tenure. Still, that's exactly what he's doing, and he takes a big risk to share with his friends why. It's all presented as "hypothetical", but these are university professors whose knowledge is only exceeded by their imagination.
The exploration of "what ifs" in such a realistic fashion was refreshing and enticing. What would happen if a Cro Magnon man (or maybe someone from a slightly later epoch), through some weird genetic glitch, lived to the current day without aging or dying? Bixby's visionary understanding of what it would be like to truly be immortal, to see time pass the way John did, is amazing in its plausibility. The deeper aspects of what that means both as a human and as a member of a whole race are also discussed: he, like me, suspects that sacred cows make the best hamburger.
For a "paint-can story", it's actually very entertaining. (A paint-can story is one where you take X number of characters, put them in a closed room, set a topic for discussion, and then see what happens.) Some of the emotional responsive are a little abrasive, but that is not entirely unrealistic. I only found it annoying because I know people who actually react that way when their "infallible truth" is questioned. Outside of that, I was spell-bound.
(Also, if you are looking for more obscure Tony Todd flicks, this is one of my favorite roles of his - much better than even Valerie on the Stairs.)
The Man From Earth earned its awards and nominations in the film community fair and square, and it earns 4.5 stars from me. The production value wasn't that big an issue for me, but some of the editing could have been smoother and the ending (although highly emotional) was definitely reminiscent of the Star Trek writer we know and love.
4.5 Stars
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