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The Man from Earth
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The Man from Earth is a 2007 film written by Jerome Bixby and directed by . The film stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, the protagonist of the story. The screenplay for this movie was conceived by Jerome Bixby in the early 1960s and was completed on his death bed in April 1998, making it his final piece of work.
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Encyclopedia
The Man from Earth is a 2007 film written by Jerome Bixby and directed by . The film stars David Lee Smith as John Oldman, the protagonist of the story. The screenplay for this movie was conceived by Jerome Bixby in the early 1960s and was completed on his death bed in April 1998, making it his final piece of work. The movie gained recognition in part for being widely distributed through Internet peer-to-peer networks and its producer publicly thanked users of these networks for this.
The film tells a story of John Oldman, a man claiming to be a Cro-Magnon caveman, who still survives after 14,000 years. The entire film is shot in a small house and its porch, relying solely on the conversation of the characters to keep the plot moving: the film is an intellectual discourse between the 14,000-year-old Cro-Magnon and his professor and teacher friends at his farewell party.
Plot
The movie begins with Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) packing his belongings onto his truck preparing to move to a new home. His colleagues show up to give him an unexpected farewell party: Harry (John Billingsley, a biologist); Edith (Ellen Crawford, a fellow professor and devout Christian); Dan (Tony Todd, an anthropologist); and Sandy (Annika Peterson), a historian who is in love with John. As they are walking into the house, Edith spots an unknown Van Gogh painting of John's with the note "To my friend, Jacques Borne" on the back written in French. Once inside, his friends persistently ask John why he is leaving.
Another friend, Art Jenkins (William Katt), an archeologist, and his student Linda Murphy (Alexis Thorpe), arrive and John's friends continue to pressure him for the reason for his departure. John poses the question, "What if a man, from the Upper Paleolithic survived until the present day?" They assume that John is working on a science fiction story and play along with the discussion. As the film progresses, John slowly reveals that he is the "caveman" under discussion when he mentions that he was given a chance to sail with Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. The revelation starts off with John's recollection of the terrain of prehistoric Earth and John's origins, which happens to be roughly 14,000 years ago. John reveals that he was once Jacques Borne, a friend of Van Gogh's, and he is now "moving on" since some people have noticed his lack of aging.
As they take a break from the discussion, Art – who is concerned about John's sanity – telephones another friend, Dr. Will Gruber (Richard Riehle), an elderly psychologist, explaining the odd situation and asks him to come over right away. In the meantime, Sandy confesses to John that she loves him, but John tells her they can never be together because of his immortality. John resumes his story by stating that he was once a Sumerian for 2000 years, then a Babylonian under Hammurabi, and finally a disciple of Gautama Buddha. Dr. Gruber arrives, at which point Dan mentions that John's tale is as impossible to be disproved as it is to be verified, a response to the many attempts to poke holes in John's story by his colleagues. The discussion takes a turn into the biological and physical condition of John and the topic of death. Gruber propels the discussion deeper into the topic of death and tension rises as Gruber interrogates John on that subject. The tension culminates with Gruber pointing a gun at John. After the drama ends with the departure of Gruber, Harry reveals that Gruber's wife has passed away the day before and the profession of John's immortality had hit Gruber very hard. Art and Edith are upset with John's story, while Harry, Dan, Sandy, and Linda appear to be more sympathetic.
John also mentions that he is not a follower of a particular religion, and he doesn't believe in an omnipotent God. John's audience is shocked when he reveals how he survived the crucifixion when he was Jesus by "blocking the pain", a technique he learned in India. He explains the origin of the Resurrection, Moses, and other events and people in the Bible. Tempers and emotions rise as Edith pressures John to recant his story, which offends her deep-rooted faith in the Bible. Dr. Gruber returns to the scene and apologizes to John for his "infantile behavior". As John continues to pack his belongings onto the truck, his colleagues begin to talk about the possibility of John being mentally ill or high on drugs.
The discussions of John being Jesus, Christianity, and the Bible continue and Edith, unable to take John's tale anymore, breaks down crying. Emotions in the room run high. Gruber takes charge of the situation and sternly demands that John end his "high tale" and give closure to the story; he threatens John with the possibility of locking him up for observation. John apologizes to everyone and, as he doesn't want to further upset any of his friends, he tells them that all he just told them is just a story.
As each of John's friends leave, John apologizes to Harry and Edith, while Art and Linda leave without many parting words. When it is Dan's turn to say goodbye, it is hinted that Dan believes John's story. After everyone but Dr. Gruber and Sandy has left, Dr. Gruber overhears John relating to Sandy some of the other pseudonyms he has used over the years. One used over 60 years ago was the name of Gruber's father, a chemistry professor from Harvard, who had left the family. Gruber, shocked and over-excited, suffers a heart attack and dies. After Gruber's body is taken away, the movie ends with Sandy walking towards John (sitting in his truck); at the last minute he changes his mind to spend some part of his life with her.
Production
The story is Jerome Bixby's last work, which he completed on his deathbed in April 1998. Bixby dictated the last of his screenplay to his son, screenwriter . After Jerome Bixby's death the script was given to Richard Schenkman to direct on a $200,000 budget.
Cast
In order of appearance:
Distribution
The film screened at the Comic-Con Film Festival in July 2007, and premiered theatrically in Hemet, California and Pitman, New Jersey in October 2007. It was released on DVD in North America by Anchor Bay Entertainment on November 13, 2007. It won the grand prize for Best Screenplay and first place for Best Feature at the Rhode Island Film Festival in August 2007.
Festivals and awards
The film has been nominated and won numorous awards.
- 2007 WINNER 1st place Best Screenplay - Rhode Island International Film Festival
- 2007 WINNER Grand Prize - Best Screenplay - Rhode Island International Film Festival
- 2008 WINNER Best Film Montevideo Fantastic Film Festival of Uruguay
- 2008 WINNER Audience Choice Award Montevideo Fantastic Film Festival of Urugua
- 2008 WINNER Best Director - Fantaspoa International Fantastic Film Festival of Porto Alegre, Brazil
- 2008 WINNER 2ND place Best Screenplay - Rio de Janeiro International Fantastic Film Festival (RioFan)
- 2008 WINNER Audience Award: Best Screenplay Film Fixion-Sars Horror & Fantastic Film Festival of Santiago, Chile
- 2008 WINNER Jury Award: Best Screenplay Fixion-Sars Horror & Fantastic Film Festival of Santiago, Chile
- 2008 WINNER Best SCI-FI Screenplay - International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival, Phoenix, AZ
- 2008 WINNER Best Screenplay - Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Int'l Independent Horror, Fantasy & Bizarre, Argentina
- 2007 - Official Selection - Another Hole in the Head SF IndieFest
- 2007 Official Selection San Diego ComicCon International Film Festival
- 2008 Official Selection Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
- 2008 Official Selection (Opening Night Screenplay) Down Beach Film Festival, Atlantic City, NJ
- 2008 Official Selection Otrocine Fantastic Film Festival of Bogota
- 2008 Official Selection FilmColumbia Festival of Film in Chatham, NY
- 2008 Official Selection - Festival de Cine Fantαstico (Fantastic Film Festival of Malaga) (FANCINE)
- 2008 Official Selection - Festival Cinema de Salvador
- 2008 Official Selection - Mostra Curta Fantαstico of Sγo Paulo, Brazil
- 2009 Official Selection Fantasporto: 29th Oporto International Film Festival, Portugal
- 2007 - Saturn Award nominee - Best DVD Release - The Man From Earth
- 2008 WINNER DVD Critics Award Best Non-Theatrical Movie
Reviews
- "A considerable achievement... a picture which deserves wide exposure... The Man From Earth gradually and stimulatingly builds to a pitch of near hypnotic intensity." Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter
- "Based on a really wonderful final work by Jerome Bixby... If youre a fan of Bixby's it's a must own." Harry Knowles, Aint It Cool News
- "The Man From Earth restores dignity to science fiction of the mind." - Michael Guillen, Twitch
- "A tall tale... that ends with a devastatingly clever twist." - Michael Janusonis, The Providence Journal
- "Great acting performances... with an ending you wouldn't want to miss... Jerome Bixby's last written work has turned out to be his best." - Hock Teh, IGN
- "A mind bending drama... It sure beats watching Transformers." - Nick Lyons, DVD Talk
- "The Man From Earth is very much a labor of love from all involved... it's well worth the effort. The final work from the writer responsible for some of the finest episodes of The Twilight Zone and the original Star Trek gets a thoughtful, low-budget treatment." Ian Spelling, Sci Fi.com
- "Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth is one of the most intelligent science fiction films ever made... probably one of the best science fiction films of the decade." Mark L. Leeper, Stephen Hunt's SF Crows Nest
- "The Man From Earth really has a chance of being the single best piece of screenwriting you will see on a screen large or small this year (really!)." Late Film
Soundtrack
All music performed by Mark Hinton Stewart
"7th Symphony - 2nd Movement"
"Forever"
- Lyrics by Richard Schenkman
- Music by Mark Hinton Stewart
- Performed by Mark Hinton Stewart and Chantelle Duncan
- Copyright - BDI Music LTD.
Publicity through filesharing
In what may be an unprecedented move, the producer of this film, Eric D. Wilkinson , has publicly thanked users of BitTorrent who have distributed the movie without express permission, saying that it has lifted the profile of this product far beyond the financier's expectations. Producers Schenkman (sellingrs), Bixby (Emerson_Bixby) and Wilkinson (EWilkinson100) have all written comments on IMDb forums and responded to questions from fans.
External links
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