Console best movie i've ever seen.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

strike-1995 Exaggerated performances, dodgy visuals and an incomprehensible story. This, however, cultivated a rather cracking experience.

sharky_55 Roeg's imagery has never been more abruptly disconcerting than in The Man Who Fell to Earth. See how the camera flies erratically over the mountains, through clouds and then suddenly exploding into a lake, and how Bowie's profile straggles over the first hilltop like an alien finding his first bearings and adjusting to the new environment. The associative editing that explores this alien mindset has eagerly pushed this film into cult territory. Roeg's sex scenes, which always have a naked vulnerability about them, become thrilling and grotesque as Newton envisions his own species' mating habits. And the frequent, dreamy cross-cutting to his home-world have a tragic spareness to them - the vignetted, home-video filming style fills them with nostalgia. The soundtrack too, buzzes in and out of focus like a broken radio, channelling Newton's own conscious disorientation. Roeg's heightens each scene and its sensations to dizzying lengths - a key scene is the first unveiling of the space vehicle, where the camera sits in the car as it approaches the great big research facility and then through the tunnel. This is accompanied by frenzied harp glissandos as it passes through this modern breach and into the vehicle itself with its luminous spherical centre; it becomes something as mesmerising as the stargate sequence in 2001. A less subtle moment is the sexual reconciliation of an ageing, ravaged Mary-Lou and a near-comatose Newton, set to a loud, overbearing rock song. It becomes a flashy, banging montage, no doubt to compensate for the shallow nature of their intimacy, but it overplays its hand and loses any semblance of its ironic potency. Bowie is of course perfectly cast. It was actually the second time that Roeg had cast a prominent music star in one of his films - Mick Jagger in Performance portrayed a former rock star gone to seed, drugged up and sexually enticing, blurring the gender boundaries within the characterisations. And Bowie's androgynous qualities do a similar thing here, dulling the orgasmic power of the human's sexual activities, like he has never really caught on to the strange act. Early on, Roeg juxtaposes the sexual energy and excitement of Bryce's college conquests with Bowie's piercing, analytical glare. There's a strange, sad irony here - he has amassed a fortune worth hundreds of millions, but his grasp of the human form and mind still infant-like, mimicking as he learns and stumbling into vices. Some might call such a film style over substance, a term I loathe. But the criticisms do have some weight behind them - there's a few tangents that are still confusing to this day, although no doubt a read of the source material could clear things up. Most frustrating is Roeg's lack of engagement with the theme despite his hypnotising visuals; Bowie's performance subscribes to less is more, and although his POV is distorted and snake-like like his true form, there's little to engage with beneath the surface. Roeg touches lightly on ideas that would be interesting from an alien perspective, but never expands on them. Bowie sings meekly in a church while Mary-Lou beams at him, and quickly falls into the vice of mainstream television and alcohol. Well, there's nothing too interesting about that. Millions of people are stuck in the same way.

Robert Brogan In "The Man Who Fell to Earth", the film itself is really 1970s America, as projected into an alien visitor. We can see what the country is by what living there does to this naive and gentle person. David Bowie and the film are uniquely suited to each other; the film has a strong essence and it is quite memorable. I have to say, though, "The Man Who Fell to Earth", is more for people that are up for a film challenging them rather than entertaining them. The US portrayed is not nice, it is garishly futuristic and dated, subtly domineering and hostile. The vibe is uneasy, desperate and despairing (and yet the grace of Bowie takes a bit of the sting off). There is a lot in it that takes a bit of questioning to figure out, the type of film you want to go into ready to exercise your wits and/or watch more than once. Recommended mainly to those interested in society and culture (and, of course, Bowie fans).

elle_kittyca How you feel about this movie depends on what you want out of it. I have two disclosures to make: first, I write reviews short and sweet, with the intention of countering those people who give mediocre films 9 stars out of ten because a film speaks to them in some way that it will not speak to others. Second, I am a die-hard Bowiephile.I watched this movie over and over and over again, for the sheer love of David Bowie. That said, I don't think this is a great film. In a few ways, its terrible. Most significantly, the screenplay and direction don't match well enough to make a very coherent or intelligible movie. It feels cheap and disjointed. If you haven't read the book, it will not make much of sense. As for performances, they are hit and miss. Bowie, many say, was exactly in his element doing this film in 75/76 when he was truly an alien living in L.A, wacked out on cocaine and out of touch with real life. How much he really acted was debatable-but if you like Bowie, seeing this film is a must. There are a few great visuals, including the cover shot used for the album LOW. This movie would have been better with a different director in my opinion, but it is what it is. A snapshot in time