How do you explain to friends/ partners when you do something not so obvious? You probably try substantiating your reasons for doing so with your reasoning. Would others believe it? And if there is no answer as to why you did it, what would you explain it to? A phenomena or a quirk of fate?
Let’s take this further since I have space. Ok, its one of times when you have rather had a harrowing experience with life. Where you are boggled with the options and feel so small in earth’s history. You are thrilled to have exemplary access to it and yet are unable to share it with friends as they would definitely not - believe you!
The Man from Earth is one of those movies which would best be watched in a contemplative mood when you seek to explore options. The movie itself is about a group of people chatting before what you call their last meeting. There’s nothing extraordinary about the movie. The entire movie is shot in the confines of a home and the people using standard shots.
One of them is moving away and his colleagues decide to have a last meeting with him. But what gives? What makes it an extraordinary movie to watch? The topic of conversation starts in a genial tone and moves to some of the artifacts in the protoganist’s possession. In a general piqued way, of how come you got it? And it makes them want to know more about the protoganist. The conversation moves to his life. The protoganist hesitates and then decides its ok to divulge his personal details. So he begins, ’Just suppose that I have.’
The narration is mostly one sided and the rest are unable to believe him. He doesn’t offer any proof of his side of the story, and yet, they are convinced at the end of it that it might be true. However, the insanity of it all, is just too unbelievable and they repeatedly prompt him to verify and end his story. He shrugs it off saying its just a story and he led them on. They almost curse him for it not being true and most leave.
Science Fiction(Yeah! don’t be surprised, it is a drama/sci/fi) has never received such a big boost. Believe me when I tell you that the story is a very compelling one. The movie is in the same league as timeless classics - Jules Verne and his 20000 Leagues under the sea or war of the worlds, except here we have drama. The only difference here is that there are no hitech gadgetry or telling animated/action sequences involved in the movie at any point. You are left to draw your conclusions based on the protoganist’s narrative.
Does he offer proof? Or does he leave it at that?
Take my hint - Watch it. I’ve had enough of mindless action already. If you have a fireplace, get a crackling fire ready and pop in the movie.
Director Ron Schenkman has done a terrific job with the presentation of this new storyline. However, parts of the movie are grainy as it was shot with a Panasonic 200x with 16 mm film as the writer acknowledges in his blog.
Trivia
This is Jerome Bixby’s last work of fiction. He began on this concept in the 60s to complete it only in 1998 just before his death. His other works include a few episodes of Star Trek and Isaac Asimov’s novel.
This movie was supposed to be made much earlier in 2005, except that the guy selling the script felt he could get a bigger deal with bigtime directors/studios due to the strong script. However, the director’s efforts along with Bixby’s son insistance that they stick to the original script paid off.
The cheapest Scifi movie to be ever made - on a 200000$ budget- Movie won 11 awards and 9 openings at international film festivals. That in itself is quite a record.
Dialogues -
’You are fulfilling one prophecy right, John’
’What’s that?’
’Here you are again’
’I am gonna go home and watch Star Trek for a dose of sanity’
As pasted on my spaces
https://padrevaters.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!17FE43B283C0F0DA!897.trak