Nicholas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth”
The New Parkway Theater
Oakland
Jan. 7, 2024
I’m ensconced on a couch with a bowl of popcorn and a soda in a movie theater, hiding out from the chilly afternoon sun in Oakland. This doesn’t feel like an impersonal, chain-movie theater experience. It’s more the kind preferred by many film nerds like myself: a rep house screening in a local theater that’s made to feel like home.
Which is fitting, since I’ve come to celebrate someone’s birthday.
It’s the eve of David Bowie’s birthday, in fact. He would have turned 77 on Jan. 8 this year. (He passed away from liver cancer in 2016.) And for the second year in a row, the New Parkway Theater is showing a Bowie film to celebrate as part of its “Queer Classics” series — Bowie’s feature film debut, Nicholas Roeg’s trippy 1976 cult classic, The Man Who Fell to Earth.
The film serves as a fever dream-commentary on the idea of longing and belonging. Bowie plays a somewhat benevolent humanoid alien who comes to earth to mine resources for his drought-ridden planet. He sets up a very successful corporation using advanced technology, but as he prepares to return to his home and family, his earth-girlfriend and enemies from the government and competing companies discover his true identity and thwart his plans. It’s a fitting first film for Bowie, whose arresting, otherworldly music persona initially caught some listeners off guard.
Samir Roy, who proposed the “Queer Classics” series to the New Parkway last year and has been curating it ever since, said he wanted to celebrate the film and the star’s “inherent queerness” during this period in the artist’s ever-changing career. And he wanted to do it with the kind of welcoming and familiar Oakland crowd that you can only get at an independent theater like the New Parkway.
“The chance to enjoy these films in a theater with a crowd of people all coming to watch through a shared queer lens, is something that feels more special now, after spending so much time separated from others [during Covid],” Roy said. “I think that strengthens the togetherness of our community in a meaningful way.”
Through Roeg’s mind-bending, psychedelic ‘70s lens, the film is a little over two hours, so it’s quite a commitment. But most of the audience — about two dozen of us, spread out over the couches on the different levels of the screening room, and ranging in age from young to older — sticks it out to the end. The New Parkway has a more intimate, homey vibe, leading to stragglers hanging out after the movie ends, grateful not just for the movie but for the experience itself. The New Parkway hosts several events geared toward community-building, not just movie-going, from karaoke nights to knitting groups, and will even play host to private events like birthday parties.
A volunteer, Roy is grateful for the community vibe. “The same folks seek me out [after the movies] to chat [and catch up] every month,” he said. “[And] every month, someone new comes out to thank me for a great time; either because they’ve been exposed to something they didn’t know existed or got to see something they love, with a crowd who loves it for the same reasons.”
Incidentally, The Man Who Fell to Earth features no music by Bowie. In an interview years after filming, the star noted that he was dealing with cocaine addiction during filming and barely remembered what the film was about, but said it fit his mood then, because he felt like an alien at the time. According to Roy, it’s hard to feel like that at these events. They’re for the LGBTQ community, allies, locals, and film nerds, and anyone in-between. All are welcome.
“I do feel like the [Queer Classics] series helps develop a sense of community here for queer people and for classic film lovers. I’ve seen familiar faces come back for many of the films, and some who have been to almost every one,” he said.
Strolling out of the theater as people stay behind and mingle, the world felt less alien and more welcoming than when I arrived.
