Interstellar: 10 Superior Philosophical Sci-Fi Films

By Tom Baker /

2. The Man Who Fell To Earth

The obvious joke about Nicolas Roeg€™s 1976 film is that it wasn't much of a stretch for its star - little-known musician David Bowie - to play a paranoid, fragile and skeletal alien being from another world. That€™s basically what he was like at the time, being well into his phase of consuming only milk, red peppers and copious amounts of cocaine, a state that Roeg took full advantage in crafting the character of Thomas Jerome Newton, an extraterrestrial who quite literally fell to Earth. The Man Who Fell To Earth is, essentially, a flipped version of Interstellar. Here Newton is an alien from a planet that is suffering a terrible drought, sent to our planet to find out if its a suitable place for his race to emigrate to. Where the astronauts of Interstellar find hope amongst the stars, however, Newton€™s naive and pure self is hopelessly corrupted by human society, as he falls to alcoholism, drug addiction, abusive relationships and eventual kidnap and experimentation by the US government. There€™s also some stuff in there about time dilation and aging, but ultimately, The Man Who Fell To Earth is like a pessimistic counterpoint to Nolan€™s film. Plus it has David Bowie, which is a pretty great selling point.