Directed by underrated director Nicolas Roeg and starring in his first lead role is David Bowie, comes this oddball science-fiction of an alien who comes to Earth to find water to save his desolate home planet.
David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton is fantastically subtle, brooding, gaunt yet handsome, intelligent and mysterious. His motives are sketchy to the film's other players, but become clear by the film's mid-point when his true identity is unmasked by the smaller players in the cast. Bowie keeps his profile low, rarely delving into over-the-top expressions except for moments of intensity. His chemistry with fellow actors Candy Clark (playing his love interest, sometimes to insufferable lengths of whining or trying to play the victim), Buck Henry (playing Bowie's business partner/lawyer-type) and Rip Torn (as a former teacher turned scientist-type and later husband to Candy Clark by the climax) is genuinely believable and maintains humanity as he balances subtle emotion with little reactions (keeping his alien nature present behind his human disguise).
The atmosphere is surreal as expected in a Nicolas Roeg film. Ranging from the remote deserts of the southwestern United States to the scenic lakeside home that Thomas Newton builds in the mountainous region of upstate New York , there is a sense of trying to find home. The effects are pretty cheesy in the 1970s standards in being a "B movie", but it works to the degree of being weird; particularly when David Bowie actually showcases his alien makeup which is unsettling.
If you need a good science-fiction piece, give this little known gem a watch.
David Bowie as Thomas Jerome Newton is fantastically subtle, brooding, gaunt yet handsome, intelligent and mysterious. His motives are sketchy to the film's other players, but become clear by the film's mid-point when his true identity is unmasked by the smaller players in the cast. Bowie keeps his profile low, rarely delving into over-the-top expressions except for moments of intensity. His chemistry with fellow actors Candy Clark (playing his love interest, sometimes to insufferable lengths of whining or trying to play the victim), Buck Henry (playing Bowie's business partner/lawyer-type) and Rip Torn (as a former teacher turned scientist-type and later husband to Candy Clark by the climax) is genuinely believable and maintains humanity as he balances subtle emotion with little reactions (keeping his alien nature present behind his human disguise).
The atmosphere is surreal as expected in a Nicolas Roeg film. Ranging from the remote deserts of the southwestern United States to the scenic lakeside home that Thomas Newton builds in the mountainous region of upstate New York , there is a sense of trying to find home. The effects are pretty cheesy in the 1970s standards in being a "B movie", but it works to the degree of being weird; particularly when David Bowie actually showcases his alien makeup which is unsettling.
If you need a good science-fiction piece, give this little known gem a watch.