“The Man Who Fell to Earth” (1976) may have traveled without luggage, but there certainly is a lot to unpack.
Nicholas Roeg’s determinedly experimental adaptation of Walter Tevis’ novel (he also wrote the books that formed the bases for Paul Newman’s “The Hustler” and the recent Netflix sensation “The Queen’s Gambit”), “The Man Who Fell to Earth” is kind of like E.T.’s lost weekend.
David Bowie, in his big screen debut, is the ethereal visitor from a dying planet who plans to return home with the necessary resources to save his people. However, he becomes increasingly mired in earthly distractions: media saturation, addiction (both chemical and interpersonal), human foibles, and institutional interference. Also, everyone he meets seems to spend so much of their time naked. And I’m talking really ‘70s naked.
Disorienting at times to the point of semi-coherence, “The Man Who Fell to Earth” is the perfect metaphor for a Roy and Ross conversation. You’ll need something stronger than water when ranking your favorite Rip Torn nude scenes in the comments section, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Interplanetary travel has seldom been so trippy as when we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:30 EDT!
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