I like Nicolas Roeg's films although I don't claim to always "get" or enjoy every minute of them. They're always fantastically shot in a crisp, realistic style, he often pushes back the boundaries, particularly with the censors, and they frequently have scenes which stick long in the memory. However, they often seem to have just as many longueurs, with off-beat characters and non-linear narratives. Maybe I'm the problem...Anyway David Bowie here plays a part which seemed to haunt him for years to come, in the aftermath of the film alone, he used images from the movie for two of his album covers, a 12-inch single sleeve while it also seems to inspire tracks on his "Station To Station", "Low" and "Scary Monsters" albums not to mention the famous "Ashes To Ashes" video. Bowie was at an artistic peak musically although off stage he was hopelessly hooked on cocaine, in fact just watch the contemporary BBC Arena documentary on him, "Cracked Actor" and he looks here as if he's just walked on-set from there. So can he act then...?Well if there was one part he was born to play, it was this one, the alien misfit who conquers the world, but to be honest, while he certainly has a presence, you wouldn't say he was extended much. Looks great though.The film stop-starts its way on his space invader odyssey, as he leaves his family life on Mars (or wherever it is) to start inventing items which quickly become society's new fashion must-haves. He picks up, (or rather she does him) an adoring if simplistic hotel chambermaid and garners a back-up team to make him a vast fortune, his target being to amass enough funds to build a spaceship to take him back home. But something happens on his way to heaven as unsurprisingly, he's abducted by government officials, where he's subjected to excruciating tests which wouldn't be out of place in an animal cruelty lab. Resistance however is futile and the mysterious Mr Newton by the end is a washed-up drunk, still resigning himself to his earth bound fate. In one of the film's most telling lines, he forgives his captor-torturer, as he admits his own race would gave treated a visiting earthling in the exact same way.There's solid back-up to Bowie's central role with a variety of convincingly portrayed stock characters. Roeg pushes the permissive button pretty far here with more than a smattering of nudity in the sex scenes, not ignoring the fact that males frequently get naked too when being intimate. I would still say there were too many scenes which for me played like Bowie's own cut-up method for lyrics at around this time, by which I mean I found them puzzling, strange and unconnected. And why no Bowie soundtrack?Still, an interesting if confounding movie, as strangely addictive in its way as television is to Newton.

Something falls out of the sky. A strange man claiming to be British citizen Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie) walks into a small town. He begins a rise with only $200. He hires lawyer Oliver Farnsworth (Buck Henry) and creates a giant high-tech company worth $300 million. It's still not enough for his mysterious goal. His motion sickness gets the best of him in a small town hotel elevator. He is rescued by hotel worker Mary-Lou (Candy Clark) who begins to help him acclimate. She becomes his companion. Meanwhile, scientist Nathan Bryce (Rip Torn) is suspicious of Newton. He gets fired for his womanizing among other things. He gets hired by Newton's company. He's invited to meet Newton out of the blue.On the one hand, it is ambitious in its snap editing, otherworldly jumps, and David Bowie is the perfect alien man. The writing is intriguing sci-fi. On the other hand, the directing is not exactly good. It's trying to do something but there is no drive or intensity. David Bowie is compelling mainly because he's playing an odd spacey David Bowie character. This deserves its cult status and it's a fascinating watch for Bowie.

While I consider myself a fan of director Nicolas Roeg - his WALKABOUT and DON'T LOOK NOW are two of my favourite films - and a fan of David Bowie's music, I didn't think much of THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH at all. I don't mind arty films to a degree, but when a film becomes too abstract I tend to lose interest. This sci-fi oddity comes across as more of a collection of beautifully-shot vignettes rather than a real movie, and it suffers as a result.I think this film is trying too hard to be cult and in doing so it ends up alienating the mainstream audience instead. Certainly Bowie is effective as the alien visiting Earth, and you find it hard to think of anyone else who'd be as believable in the part, but what happens? There are endless, tastefully-shot sex scenes with Rip Torn and the like, some bad guys sitting around in their offices, and lots of surreal stuff. It's hardly THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. The cinematography is excellent as you'd expect, but I found this to be an incredibly hollow experience overall.

The premise shows promise, but time and time again the plot is incoherent, jumping from scene to scene without really introducing who is there, what are they doing, and why. Not only are most of their motivations clouded in strange cinematic shots including hallucinatory flashbacks/time travel and time gaps, the story suffers from what seems to be a lack of direction or loss of critical information. The addition of numerous sex scenes adds little to the plot ("Sex sells, Morty") and would present itself no worse without them. (One of the minor characters has multiple sex scenes to show their lifestyle, which ultimately detracts from the main story.) As a fan of science fiction, I am disappointed, though I can see the allure to non-sober viewers.