This film has none of the clichés that other movies use to create excitement. There are no explosions, flashbacks, montages, or car chases. This is a room full of people, educated people, who spend the whole day in a living room tossing around a singular topic. The drama comes from the circumstances of conversation, how logic and faith are fallible, how truth, lies, gullibility and trust can be stretched, ignored, dismissed, or dangerously reconsidered. A lot of folks don’t find that kind of movie interesting or entertaining. Initially, The Man from Earth didn’t impress me, but my mind keeps going back to the questions it raised during the discussion, and how the characters expressed their reactions. Once I realized that I was running the movie over in my head, I also realized that the movie, whose goal was to have these questions mulled over, was a success. Well, as much of a success as a bunch of professors hammering all day on one subject in a living room can be a success.
