Mon Avis: Review: The Man From Earth - Un-aging Tale!

There could be nothing more circumstantial at a day when you aged one more year, turned 25 ... to be watching a film which hypothesises all the possibilities if a man lived 14000 years to present.. without aging :) 

Sitting on a couch 1100 miles away from the best buddies, friends and family... living in a privileged time of technology to be affording a cell phone which is constantly buzzing with calls of birthday wishes through the midnight (one huge surprise too!:)), I watched this riveting drama that simply was about rewarding inquisitiveness.. and the theory of "what-ifs"... and I must tell you... my entire concept of cinema changed forever...

Well, is it possible to create a science fiction cinema without a single computerised shot or special effect? Is it possible to create a science fiction cinema with a motley bunch of nondescript characters in a single hearth lit room? and above all is it possible to create a science fiction cinema with the in-film time spanning just about 90 minutes? Well, the answer is The Man From Earth.

The movie is all about conversation, it is about inquisitiveness as a human instinct, it is about a innate human readiness for giving way to possibilities...

For about a  decade John Oldman (played by David Lee Smith) has been a popular history professor .  He is mysteriously giving up tenure and leaving for unexplained reasons to go to an undisclosed destination. His bewildered friends are throwing a good-bye party for the charismatic teacher.

John's friends clearly want to pry the secrets from their enigmatic colleague. The secret is that he has had access to knowledge of history that they did not--far more knowledge than they could ever have. Their conversation centers on why he has this information, 

but also on how history is not what people might have thought it was--and what the implications are of his special knowledge.

Then comes a shocking revelation... The man in question says he has been in existence for about a 14000 years and moves on every 10 years to some other location when his friends start to feel that he is not aging...

Then becomes a sojourn of exchanges of disbelief, consternation, mocking-queries, probing-queries, serious-queries... about what was it like... to be living such a long time.. meeting so many people... etc etc etc

Ups:

• Simple, No frills drama, banking solely on characters and dialogues... 
• David Lee Smith - The man who pulls it off as John Oldman. His character has been sketched and implemented by him to such well-balanced way that it gives a queer credibility to the film.. and the script
  
• The other character: What else could hold this film except the characters.. and they did just that.... fantastic performances with few unknown faces (telly dramas most of them came from)
• Script : This is the only thing that this film is about.. there is no room for trick cinematography, editing, stunts, clever shots etc. This movie is a classic example of stupendous script writing. 

Downs :

• A mix of predictable and unpredictable climax (not giving it away. You should watch it to know it!)
• Poor marketing - I dont know why but not many people knew this was released in 2007.. until it found its way through good old torrents :)

Must watch this one whenever you get time. This is a classic movie that will not bore you even for a second. 

How would you feel if you had lived 14000 years to the present without aging and narrating your story to your pals?

How would you feel to BE one of those pals ? :)

Try this kind of social experiment... get into a room with your friends and bluff , say, that you have had the power to be invisible all throughout... and see how your friends react, question, discredit , willingly believe and then psychologically drain themselves. Excellent but can't pull off? Then watch The Man From Earth