The Man Who Fell to Earth

David Bowie's stage persona of "Ziggy Stardust," rock star from Mars, had been so fully absorbed by his fans (and the media) that he seemed the obvious choice to play Thomas Jerome Newton, alien castaway turned millionaire pop star, in the film version of Walter Tevis's novel The Man Who Fell to Earth. But, of course, Newton is only a pop star for a few moments at the end of the film, which is only one of many areas where director Nicolas Roeg and screenwriter Paul Mayersberg confound the audience's expectations. The Man Who Fell to Earth doesn't play like a traditional science fiction film; interstellar technology and alien conquest don't figure into the story, and instead we're told the strange and sad tale of a man who wants nothing more than to go home to his home and family, which circumstances will not permit. While Bowie doesn't come off as a terribly skilled actor, he's highly effective as an alien presence (and his character's jittery paranoia got an unexpected boost from Bowie's well-documented cocaine abuse in this period), and he manages to radiate a human sense of sadness and loss while maintaining a cold, unearthly emotional distance. Roeg's always sure visual sense never fails him here, as he places Newton in a world that seems a step or two removed from reality; this is never his world, and it also doesn't quite seem to be ours. Candy Clark and Rip Torn, as the two principal human characters, have the drawback of playing people less clearly drawn than Newton, but they ultimately acquit themselves admirably. Few sci-fi films have ever seemed quite so human or made earthbound humanity seem such a cruel fate. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide