Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) is in his late 30s and he has just lefty his position as a professor at the university. He has only worked there for 10 years so his friends can’t quite understand his desire to move on. But he is determined so they decide to throw him a going away party. As his friends gather and chat, the script gives us little clues that we are about to witness some interesting story; like why does John have a Van Gogh painting that unmistakably resembles an original? His friends also mention that John hasn’t aged a day in 10 years. It turns out that they don’t know him as well as they think. He has quite an explanation as to why he has to move. He is also torn between telling his friends. Then he does. To the disbelief of all the science people in the room, he admits to being immortal. He is about 14.000 years old. His aging has stopped at age 35 so in order to go unnoticed, he leaves every 10 years and moves on to something else. They are also getting outrageous with his claims, since it goes against all their specialties: biology, anthropology, archeology… But he is so consistent, some seem so to believe him. After all they can’t disprove his story…The more his friends listen, the more they get concerned by John’s well-being. Is he nuts? Or are they actually facing a former caveman?
The script is full of intelligent twists. David Lee Smith portrays his character intensely and persuasively. The story is interesting and it glues you to the screen. They hardly ever leave the house and the only other filming location is the front yard of his house. The director is Richard Schenkman. The amazing story belongs to Jerome Bixby. He is the writer of the original Star Trek. And even if you like Star Trek or not, this story is nothing short of a masterpiece. It appeals to movie lovers of different tastes and surprises you with its intelligence and creativity. You won’t regret seeing this.
Fun note:
The Man from Earth, David Lee Smith, dated V‘s Erica Evans/Lost’s Juliet Elizabeth Mitchell in the mid-90s.
Other Sci-Fi Movies/Movies with Sci-Fi Elements
Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio
Strange Days starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Lewis and Angela Bassett
Timeline starring Gerard Butler and Paul Walker
Surrogates starring Bruce Willis and Rosamund Pike
Knowing starring Nicholas Cage
Gamer starring Gerard Butler
[…] like Equilibrium, The Island or Gattaca. I l also would have loved to come up with something like The Man from the Earth (a sci-fi/drama genius with the lowest budget, really good acting and awesome idea), Law Abiding […]