Just saw this movie on Netflix instant. It’s very well done
and very interesting. A history professor at a small university
for no apparent reason leaves his tenured post for
an unknown destination. His friends, other academics, male and female,
come by his place for an impromptu party as he’s packing. They ask
him why he’s leaving. Finally he tells them he is
14,000 years old and that he leaves every place
after ten years, when people begin to remark
that he doesn’t age… The movie is what ensues.
The dialogue is very good, the thing is actually
believable, and there is a genuine drama
with real passions as the
friends (who are anthropologists, biologists,
archeologists…) try to poke holes
in his story. Recommended.
Thanks for the recommendation! Will put it in the queue.
OK Jim, only for you would I watch a 1 1/2 star movie. 
Quite enjoyed it. Thanks for the heads up.
Doc
Thanks for the recommendation. It sounds like actual intelligent sci fi, which is rare these days as Joe 6-Pack demands more and more explosions.
In trying to keep my queue full enough that I never get to the ones that I don’t really want to see anyway, I am grateful for suggestions.
I really should go back to the $5, 2/month plan, but sometimes I watch series, so I’m on the one-at-a-time scheme.
No explosions. This is really borderline sci fi. It’s
these intelligent and educated people trying to deal with
the claim that this fellow they know
and care about claims to be 140 centuries old.
The thing is filmed in real time.
What’s remarkable is that it manages to be quite dramatic,
the intelligent and educated people actually sound
intelligent and educated but in no way boring.
Excellent acting and directing.
As the fellow gives them more and more revelations
about the past (especially the history of religion), these people
become increasingly
unglued.
Still, it would have gotten more stars if there had been some explosions.
Doc
Agreed. I heard about a film on NPR which
seems like it will fit that description, though
I haven’t seen it yet. It’s called "The Sleep
Dealer", and it deals with the possibility of
blue-collar outsourcing via human-controlled
drones. I think there’s some commentary on
immigration wrapped up in there. The best
SciFi, to me, was always the stories which
used potential futures to overextend current
problems and use that for social commentary.
I watched The Man From Earth* last night.
It was, as Jim describes, interesting and intelligent. I think I would stop short of calling it sci-fi, as the premise is based on more of a biological anomaly than anything Star Treky. More philosophy than sci-fi, I guess.
Interestingly, I never know what will interest my 17 year old kid, but this one he sat through start to finish despite the “talky” nature of the thing. Basically the set is a living room. He was intrigued by the little twist at the end.
One of his favorite films is Wristcutters, which was a freebie on our on-demand service. He liked it so much he insisted I watch it with him, and I did despite the name turning me off somewhat. It was also an interesting concept, about suicided people who find themselves in a realm pretty much like the world they knew, “only slightly worse.” And they work out various ways to deal with this.
*Anyone remember The Greatest American Hero on tv in the 70’s? I never watched it, but I remember the song:
Believe it or not I’M walking on air,
I never thought I could feel so freeeeeee
Flying away on a wing and a prayer,
Who could it beeeee?
Believe it or not, it’s just me!
Right. Well, William Katt, from that show, appears in The Man From Earth appears as a middle-aged, artsy professor escorting a fresh young co-ed.
Daughter youngest (16) and I watched “The Man From Earth” today. Wow! I have a new favorite movie of all time, I think.
Thought provoking, though the only part of it I hadn’t already mulled over in my own blip on the timeline was the multi-thousand year old aspect of the man.
In the interest of balance I found this film pretty dull.
I kept thinking that the dialogue was horrendously stilted and if they had only had a decent cast it might have gone a bit better.
The ending was predictable and it just couldn’t hold my attention despite discussions on issues which I find facinating normally.
Don’t watch it if you are feeling at all sleepy.
Oh, I’ll grant you it lacks greatly in action, scenery and budget (one room, very few changes and then only to the drivway), and I might have picked other actors, but the idea of it, especially the presentation of the man so elevated and yet swallowed by history, is what riveted me. It is a movie for thinking, not for being entertained.