I remember visiting my father many MANY years ago and going to the “movie store” as he called it to pick out some movies (on Beta!) to watch while I visited him at his apartment.
We picked up Lethal Weapon(which we watched together) and then when he went to bed I watched the movie I had picked. It was David Bowie in “The Man Who Fell To Earth”.
I’m pretty sure I had an awareness of David Bowie and that’s why I picked it, but I really had no idea what it was about. Hence as a teen I didn’t really understand it and found it to be a confusing slice of time I wish I had back. However, it stuck with me.
Later as I begin to really really get into Bowie I ended up getting his “Low” and “Station To Station” albums which feature stills from the movie as the cover art.
David Bowie “Low”
David Bowie “Station To Station”
I always thought I would watch the movie again one day when I was in a more mature space to take it in. Evidently there is now a Showtime series based on it.
But…
suddenly in almost freakish fashion, I saw the movie tie-in version of the book on the sci-fi book feed on Instagram and my direction forward was engaged.
As is the blessing and the curse of the internet, a mere moments on my phone and a copy was on it’s way to me.
Then of course in the photo shoot I had to get out my David Bowie “Low” album and get a shot of them together.
In a true super nerd move I also bought a reading copy of the book so I can keep this beauty on the shelf. I got a used Thrift Books copy that is marked from the Denver Public Library.
Confession here, I have not finished it yet, but at 1/4 of the way in I have a much better understanding of the thing I witnessed in my dad’s apartment so many many years ago. I’m enjoying it.
There is a LOT of chatter in the comments of the DVDs for sale of the film, and there seem to be many versions. Approximately 20 minutes were cut from the film when it was released in the US and skew the movie wildly. So I think it’s imperative I finish the book before I watch the movie so I can fill in the blanks. When I think I found the directors cut on Amazon I was stunned to find the charging 75 US dollars for it. Sheesh.
The Aural Retentive 