The Man Who Fell to Earth

In The Man Who Fell to Earth, an almost completely elusive film, Nicolas Roeg pushes the story completely into the background in favour of one long audiovisual trip. It's a chain of cinematic inventions, packed with astonishing visual associations in both mise-en-scène and editing. Stylistically, this is without a doubt Roeg's most sophisticated and breathtaking feature. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a rarity in every possible way—but the most alien presence of all remains its leading man. From the very first images—David Bowie, androgynous, with bright orange hair and his slender, feline body wrapped in a duffel coat, descending a hill in the American Southwest—the tone is set for this enigmatic cult classic, which refuses to give up all its secrets even after multiple viewings. Bowie's adventures on Earth are light-years removed from Spielberg's E.T. This is mature science fiction, brimming with visionary ideas about identity, sexuality, communication, the environment, and big business.