10 More Obscure Films You Must See
4. The Man Who Fell To Earth (dir. Nicolas Roeg, 1976) 
There are good films, there are bad films, and there are films so strange and conflicted that we just dont know what to think. The Man Who Fell To Earth is a brilliant example of the final category and boasts a bevy of talent on- and off-screen, being directed by British cult director Nicolas Roeg (Dont Look Now, The Witches), produced by Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley (The Deer Hunter), and starring David Bowie in his first and finest performance. Based on Walter Tevis 1963 novel, The Man Who Fell to Earth stars Bowie as an alien called Thomas Jerome Newton, who comes to Earth in search of water to save his dying planet. Using his intelligence to create cutting-edge technology, he becomes one of the worlds richest men, developing a relationship with a hotel maid (Candy Clark) and attempting to get back home. But the longer he stays on Earth the more corrupted he becomes, ending up as a self-loathing alcoholic. Combining elements of Michelangelo Antonionis The Passenger, Andrei Tarkovskys Solaris and the early work of Richard Lester, The Man Who Fell to Earth is a fascinating bridge between the drug-induced hippie culture of the late-1960s and the post-Altamont paranoia of the 1970s. Its surreal and disturbing imagery, including full frontal nudity, makes for a deeply trippy experience best viewed around midnight. But beneath its flaws and excess, its a fascinating indictment of the destructive power of wealth and materialism. Its baffling, bizarre and utterly bonkers, but never anything less than unforgettable. Three Men on a Blog review The Movie Hour podcast: #3