Review

This is the epitome of Reddit wankery. And I should know, I was once a reddit wanker. I wanna say I've watched Man from Earth three times now. The first two times were years ago and the third from just recently. I would say that I enjoy the movie to a degree, and I don't want to judge it too harshly. This is super indie and being really harsh would just feel like punching down. It's got issues though, problems I see now that I didn't back in the day. (And not just the general structure, let's meet the movie where it's at and critique it, knowing that it is what it is. And what it is is fully intended by the filmmakers.)

The Man from Earth is a movie where a couple of people get into a room and talk for a bit. There's no real action and the acting ain't great. And that's about it. The success of the movie hinges on whether you find the central conceit interesting. And I do. John Oldman gathers up his colleagues and admits to them that he has been alive for thousands of years. And the movie revolves around his colleagues (in appropriately diverse fields of study) questioning him on his various claims. My big disappointment this time is I sort of forgot how big the religion thing was in the movie. In my memory, it was the emotional climax, but was not completely center stage. Upon rewatching, it takes up a lot of the air in the room. And I feel like that's to its detriment. I had a lot more fun when we were going through some of the earlier bits. John's recollections of his early life. His experiences traveling around and seeing the world. Once the Jesus thing happens, everything grinds to a halt and that's all the movie can be about. How could it not? The claim is too big.