Jerome Bixby of Star Trek thought this up in the 60's and completed the screenplay on his deathbed in 1998.
IMDB rates 8.1 and has the comment: "Make absolutely certain you do not miss this film."
Critic on RT: "It's that rare film that rewards inquisitiveness."
I agree, this movie is simply a must-see. Like the commenter on IMDB, I could have paid $50 and still felt like I'd gotten my money's worth. Easily the most intellectually edifying fiction I've seen.
If you can't rent, it's $12 on Amazon. However, wiki notes: "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," so it seems you're also welcome to download it. (Update: See the producer's comment below.)
More reviews via Wikipedia:
"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 ReporterAddendum: I've done a little further digging and reviews seem to be almost universally positive. Small wonder.
"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
IF YOU DOWNLOADING THIS MOVIE ILLEGALLY - PLEASE READ!!!
ReplyDeleteWe, the filmmakers behind "Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth" understand that this is a film many sci-fi fans want to see. And we especially understand that if you live outside the United States, you've had absolutely no way of knowing when this film might be coming to your local cinema, video store, or TV... if ever! Indeed, all international rights to the movie are still available.
And as a result you may have downloaded the film from one of the many torrent (or other) sites available. Chances are, you paid nothing to do so. But please understand that we are just some independent filmmakers who put everything we had into our little movie, and you really hurt us directly when you downloaded the movie illegally.
Judging from the postings at IMDB.com, we see that the vast majority of you quite like the film; many of you even love the film and have watched it repeatedly.
We made this movie with a great deal of love, sacrifice and effort on a low budget. But as low as the budget was, it was still a LOT of money to us, as well as to the people who trusted us with their investment to go ahead and make such an unusual, even controversial film.
So we are making an unusual request... asking you to return the love, if you will:
Please visit www.manfromearth.com, and make some sort of donation in exchange for the enjoyment our movie brought you. It could be fifty cents, it could be fifty dollars. Perhaps you feel the average weekly video store rental is a fair amount. Whatever it is, it might be small to you, but if every single person who downloaded the movie -- heck, if only the people who LIKED the movie -- donated a few dollars, would certainly help get us to breakeven. Just go to www.manfromearth.com and click on "donate".
The money you donate will go DIRECTLY towards everone who worked on and invested in our dream. And who knows... if we ever do break even on "Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth", maybe we can go make another intelligent, thought-provoking film.
Thank you very, very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Eric D. Wilkinson
Producer
Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth