Tag Archives: Naomie Harris

CHANNEL 366: THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (2022)

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DIRECTED BY: Alex Kurtzman, Sarah Harding, Joss Agnew, Olatunde Osunsanmi

FEATURING: , , Bill Nighy, Clarke Peters, Jimmi Simpson, Kate Mulgrew, Annelle Olaleye, Sonya Cassidy, Rob Delaney, Juliet Stevenson

PLOT: After the events of the movie of the same title, Thomas Jerome Newton (Bill Nighy), still alive and in hiding, summons another visitor from the planet Anthea, Faraday (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to find a physicist, Justin ‘Jessie’ Falls (Naomie Harris) and enlist her help to  finish the task Newton could not: save their dying race. However,  government agents Spencer Clay (Jimmi Simpson) and his handler Drew Finch (Kate Mulgrew) notice Faraday’s arrival and attempt to capture both aliens for their own ends.

Still from "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (2022)

COMMENTS: In my earlier review of the “12 Monkeys” TV series, I mentioned that the main problem in adapting movies to television shows is forging their own identity while also (hopefully) respecting the source material. “The Man Who Fell to Earth” series is based on the Walter Tevis novel but  (mostly) on the 1976  adaptation with   starring. So the question becomes, where do you go from here?

Several things stand in the way of success—the main and most obvious one being that the Thin White Duke is  not in the room, although his presence is felt. Another hurdle, in my view, is Alex Kurtzman, who both in tandem with his ex-writing partner Roberto Orci and flying solo, has heightened the douchery factor of most of his projects (“Hawaii Five-O”, “Star Trek”/Nu-Trek). Not to malign the production value or pedigree of actors involved in those shows, which range from excellent to good. It’s when it comes to story that Kutzman’s projects shit the bed consistently.

In this instance, Kurtzman (who also directs the first four episodes) is credited as co-creator/writer along with writing/producing partner Jenny Lumet. Their approach to the show is not as a remake of the movie, but as a continuation of the events in the book/film. The series starts with Faraday presiding over a presentation that strongly resembles an Apple Corp. product unveiling, then flashes back to his arrival on Earth. Subsequent episodes follow the journey of Faraday to this moment.

The other notable approach to the story is that this iteration is more diverse in its casting (in addition to Ejiofor and Harris, the main cast includes Clarke Peters as Falls’ dying father Josiah and Annelle Olaleye as Molly Falls, Justin’s daughter) and its storytelling. This  supports the material instead of being a gimmick. The series touches on current issues like climate change, immigration, the machinations of tech companies, and the treatment of the aged. Clever touches include subtle callbacks to iconic scenes from the film and episodes titled after Bowie songs. There are, of course, deviations from the book/film—the main one being that this Man allows for more hope. As Faraday tells a character who fears the chaos that a patent would create if realized, “Chaos is why humans exist. You rise and you adapt. This is the next step.”. This optimism is a breath of fresh air compared with the endless dystopian variations presented as entertainment over the last decade or so.

“Man” was not picked up for a second season—but it didn’t need to be. “Mini-series” or “limited-series” appear to be forbidden words in today’s television landscape, but ten episodes were plenty of time to tell this tale, and to end on just the right note.

The show was originally broadcast on the Showtime networks and can be streamed on Apple TV or viewed on DVD and Blu-ray.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“… absent of the original film’s pensive, oddly seductive magnetism and Roeg’s experimental flourishes, Showtime’s The Man Who Fell to Earth feels frustratingly earthbound. Where’s a space oddity when you need one?”–Will Ashton, Slant (contemporneous)

CHANNEL 366: THE THIRD DAY (2020)

DIRECTED BY: Marc Munden, Felix Barrett, Philippa Lowthorpe

FEATURING: Jude Law, , Katherine Waterston, ,

PLOT: Sam, a bereaved father, saves a suicidal girl and returns her to her home on a remote strip of land off the English coast, only to discover an undercurrent of violence and a weird theology permeating the island. Months later, mother Helen brings her children to the island for a vacation that quickly goes from bad to worse.

Still from "The Third Day" (2020)

COMMENTS: One of the most beloved tropes of horror is the character who goes somewhere—a room, a house, a portal to hell—that no reasonable, clear-thinking person would dare to tread. Part of the joy of the creepy-town variant is that no place is safe; every entrance you make is a bad idea. When Jude Law motors across the rarely appearing causeway that takes him away from the normal, safe world and into the strange island village of Osea, he’s making the classic horror-movie hero journey—and the classic mistake. And when Naomie Harris repeats the trek three episodes later, the audience has to be flat-out screaming “Don’t go in there!” at the screen. (Osea, incidentally, is a real place. Their public relations reps have much to answer for.)

In some respects, The Third Day is two deliberately different shows. (Actually, three. We’ll get to the third one in a moment.) “Summer”, the first three installments starring Law and directed by Marc Munden, mix a persistent sense of dread with a bizarre color palette. The landscape is a perpetual mossy green and dishwater blue, but other colors are riotously bold, as if the very look of the place is conspiring to keep Law’s discombobulated traveler Sam off balance. (Dropping acid, he will learn, does not help.) It is in this first act that we will learn that this community has a very particular theology that is directly related to Sam and the personal tragedy that his thrown his life into chaos. Though there is violence and shocking imagery, the look of the show reflects the town’s view of itself: a paternalistic flock welcoming a lost sheep back into the fold.

Harris’ arrival in “Winter” (with Philippa Lowthorpe now directing) is a significant contrast. Mirroring the weather, the village has turned cold and cracked, with whatever pleasant disposition that might have existed gone and the entire community in a dither over a forthcoming childbirth. The town is more clearly adversarial now, and unlike Sam, Harris’ Helen is not so easily thrown off her game. Of course, the two outsiders’ fates are intertwined, and it will take a fair amount of recriminations and violence to resolve their situation.

The Third Day falls neatly within the popular “outsider goes to strange little northern European village” genre associated with The Wicker Man or Midsommar, and most of the show’s power comes from an ever-present vibe of discomfort seasoned with folk cult horror that intentionally distances the hero and viewer alike. The island’s faith is a bizarre corruption of Christianity peppered with Continue reading CHANNEL 366: THE THIRD DAY (2020)