gavin6942 A mute alien (Joe Morton) with the appearance of a black human is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem.If this film had been made five years earlier, it might have fallen into the blaxploitation trap. But, luckily, this is not the case because it is above and beyond blaxploitation and in many ways far more clever. Rather than dwell on race, it just sort of accepts it.There is the theme of immigration, though it is not heavy-handed and the viewer can choose to see this as a parable or not. They can choose to see it as science fiction or not. (Obviously it is, but it is light.) There is plenty of room for a viewer to imprint his or her own thoughts on to the story and make it their own.Bonus: Fisher Stevens shows up.

a-d-d-iva-1 This film has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it. The Brother from Another Planet was featured at the French-American film festival in my temporary hometown of Avignon, France in the spring/summer of 1984, and I saw it in the Utopia theater there, a venue equal to this enchanting, unusual film. My own situation informed my viewing; as I had recently graduated from college and flown to France to work for the summer (before heading into "the 'real' world"), Brother spoke to me about life as a foreigner "without a voice." I was self-conscious about my French and had chosen to spend my early weeks there silently observing. The parallels were too many to enumerate. My reactions were visceral; I appreciated the situations more than had I been viewing with a majority American audience. Separate from my personal perspective, however, I believe the film depicts a wonderful cross-section of characters who were simultaneously of their era and archetypal; I enjoyed "meeting" the compendium the Brother met and seeing them through his eyes. Joe Morton was skilled at communicating without words, conveying emotion and thoughtfulness in his character's truly alien environment. The interplanetary bounty hunters, my personal favorites, were clearly inspirations for the later "Men in Black" feature franchise. I'm glad I saw them before MIB debuted. There was nothing formulaic about this story. Sayles' fresh approach made me into a lifelong fan; he is a storyteller whose tales are always worth the trip. For a film with the potential for both scintillating discussion or simply quirky-but-never-shallow entertainment, check out The Brother.

bandw A space alien crash lands in the Hudson River and makes his way to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. This is not your typical alien - he is mute and can pass for a black human. This setup allows director Sayles to examine the human condition, as it exits in Harlem in the 1980s, from the most innocent of perspectives. I can't comment on the accuracy of the observations made in "The Brother From Another Planet," but I can say it is a fun movie that seems grounded in social reality.The fact that The Brother can't speak works in his favor, since people are quite willing to talk at him about anything and everything that is going on in their lives and they assume that his reactions are accepting and kindly. Maybe quiet listening *is* the way to win friends. The Brother has been pretty trashed by his fall to earth and upon arrival looks much like a homeless person. In no time he comes under the help of social services and its attendant bureaucracy - how easy it is for that to happen is the kind of social observation that runs throughout this film. The Brother has some special talents, like being able to heal wounds. In one of the most touching scenes he heals a minor scrape on the knee of a young kid and the kid just smiles and accepts it as a common occurrence - a testament to how open kids are to any sort of experience.The Brother is being pursued by two men from his home planet, the implication made being that they are trying to retrieve an escaped slave. The two pursuers are played by David Strathairn and Sayles himself. They are dressed in all black and seem to be a takeoff on John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in "The Blues Brothers." Their movements are choreographed in a synchronized way that has hilarious effect. They can speak, but are not much more familiar with human behavior than The Brother. In one scene at a neighborhood bar they are asked what they want to drink and, after some hesitation, they say "Beer," and then are asked what kind and say "Draft," and then add "On the rocks." This movie is not to be watched for any special sci-fi effects, which are not much beyond those in 50s B-movies, but rather for the keen observations and the winning performance by Joe Morton as the alien. Morton's performance is all the more admirable since, being speechless, he has to revert to the skills of the silent film actors to command our attention.I am still a bit mystified by the ending. It resolves the fascination the The Brother has with graffiti, but left me with several possible interpretations.

cultfilmfan The Brother From Another Planet, is about an African American alien who crash lands on Earth in Harlem, in New York City. The brother does not speak English (or any language at all) but he can understand others and soon makes friends at a local bar and gets a job fixing things. He also gets a place to stay, lodging with a single mother. Many things on Earth seem unusual to the brother and he encounters many unusual people and situations. Soon we also find out about two men in black who are after the brother and want to get rid of him. He also shows his many alien talents during the film. Winner of The Caixa de Catalunya Award for Best Actor (Joe Morton, who plays the brother) and Best Screenplay (John Sayles, who also directed and edited the film) at The Catalonian International Film Festival. The Brother From Another Planet, has good direction, a good script, a good performance by Joe Morton, as well as a good supporting cast, good original music, good cinematography and good film editing. The Brother From Another Planet, takes a little while to get into but gives us an entertaining story, a likable main character and likable side characters, interesting situations and the script is filled with good dialogue, good character development, is full of smart satire and unusual characters and lots of unique situations and plot twists. The film is quite enjoyable and entertaining and is deliciously different. I enjoyed this film quite a bit and it is a nice clever sci-fi/comedy.