"immigration? gimme a break. we had a kid overdose downstairs last night and you're pestering people about some piece of paper that says theyr legal? you wanna know my opinion? my opinion is you people just made up the immigration scam just to keep people under your thumb"

Need to live. Need food to live. Need money for food. Need work for money. Need social security, permit, ID for work. Need application for social security, permit, ID. Need social security, permit, ID for application. Need to read and write to fill out application. Need time to learn. Need to live in the meantime. Need food to live. Need money for food. Need work for money...

Really interesting moment near the beginning where everyone writes The Brother off as crazy before realizing he can fix things. You only matter when you can be exploited.

From the title, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a goofy, broad comedy - the kind that John Landis and Eddie Murphy may have collaborated on. But you would be completely wrong.

The Brother From Another Planet is actually a highly thoughtful, humane, and yes, funny, portrait of what it's like to be an outsider in America.

This was the first movie to be directed by John Sayles that I've seen, but from what I understand it's the only one to use any of the stuff he learned in his background writing exploitation movies for Roger Corman. It's too bad, because this movie's fantastic conceit brought down to Earth and shot through with real human characters is pretty damn irresistible.

did i find this movie or did it find me?

Fun sci-fi blaxploitation crossover, really into the fact that the protagonist doesn't speak at all, really into the positive portrayal of sex (also this seems remarkably free of misogyny for the most part--which has often seemed omnipresent in a lot of the blaxploitation movies I've seen), but, despite, as Lencho pointed out, the lack of whitesplaining, it's still weird that this movie stars & was written/directed by a white dude??? Should that be a thing? I don't know, it's complicated-- to be fair Larry Cohen directed a couple of brilliant blaxploitation films too?

A film like The Brother from Another Planet could easily have been taken as any other blaxploitation film that came out within this period, and yet John Sayles finds a way around that template to turn it into something quite unique. But as most people on this site that I follow have noted, there's a lot to admire about how Sayles still keeps much of this so low-key, yet it never stifles how bizarre this film can get - as thoughtful as it remains from beginning to end.

Sayles takes a story of this sort to turn it into an allegory regarding immigration in America, except we're also being told the story of a literal illegal alien. At times, it rings far too true - but that's also a part of what makes Sayles such a fascinating filmmaker too.

Director Project

Director: John Sayles (Third film)

Oddball comedy with a serious underlining, the central performance and role of Joe Morton as the alien who lands on earth is quietly (literally) brilliant, and pivotal to everything that makes this film good. The best moments lie with those he meets oddly enough, and how he interacts with them, progressively becoming more competent with expressing himself.

Often they're bizarre, but mostly they're funny, especially during a really weird, but genuinely awesome fight scene involving Sayles himself as one of two men-in-black hunting The Brother. Not much else I have in my mind to say, but I did really enjoy it. It takes no sides, and doesn't preach and prance around, and I liked it because at any time, it can be taken seriously, or not so much - maybe never diving into either pool particularly deep, but still managing an entertaining and thoughtful film.

Even when a brother from another planet is curious about planet earth, white people and cops still gotta chase him down. Can’t even enjoy everyday living without anyone thinking a black man is just gonna cause chaos or steal something 😒. Pretty unique how the movie uses comedy to show how an outsider feels about the binary treatment of people. The way the brother from another planet looks at how stupid people react towards his actions is a whole mood 😅😂.

“children withering away up here brother, worshipping the idol of capital, lusting after the false salvation of here & now.”

Delightfully low-budget and deliciously different, The Brother from Another Planet is a 1984 work of Afrofuturism by director John Sayles, which follows a mute, black intergalactic alien (Joe Morton) as he’s pursued by two white bounty hunters (John Sayles and David Strathairn) from outer space through the streets of Harlem.  It leans hard on it’s independent vibes to produce an odd mixture of tone, editing, and even music (steal drums feature prominently throughout), but the whole thing somehow works rather well and I found myself enjoying it much more than I anticipated.  Morton is quite good at conveying his inner thoughts with facial expressions and body language, and the runaway slave metaphor is apropos without being overbearing.  As the two men in black, Sayles and Strathairn move with an otherworldly, snake-like mobility, partly achieved by filming certain sequences in carefully choreographed reverse.  The 80’s arcade elements added to my enjoyment, it’s worth seeking out.

Seen on: The Criterion Channel
Films in 2021: #102

“Perhaps if we disguise ourselves as earthly authority figures we will gain the human’s trust and respect. Surely this will be a short and easy mission where nothing will go wrong!”

The last 30 minutes almost ruined the film for me. It took a screeching halt and I completely lost interest. Everything before was great though.

A quiet film about race and communication, with way more weird sci-fi elements than I was figuring on. Another one I would love to catch in a theater someday.

Rating: B

A very cool journey through Harlem- I was so surprised about the vignette-like structure of the film.

White folks get stranger all the time.

Rescato el interesante concepto inicial y una escena con truco de magia y cartas que debería ver unas 45 veces más para terminar de procesarlo.

A bit like Being There is early Reagan America, except without the one-note jokey conceit. A film that's allowed to meander to different spots and enunciate different aspects of society that would be alien to any extraterrestrial visitor. The best parts are when Sayles set his camera down in a scene to just hang with characters in their natural environment- a social services office, a local bar, et al.

Some of the best bar scenes in cinema history.

If you think your last words might be "I own real estate!" it's time to reconsider your choices.

I think one of the qualities I enjoy about a certain category of low-budget movies from the '70s and '80s is the way they often are lacking the signifiers modern movies might have regarding the level of "importance" different scenes and characters have. You're forced to assume a scene is relevant for its function and message rather than trying to figure out where this event will fit in to the entire plot arc, even if as the movie continues some scenes do turn out to have been doing double duty. It's nice to have to think a little more without having a convoluted plot; either a scene later fits in to the plot or it doesn't, but what's important is what it's contributing to the message.

a wild film with an incredible lead performance from Joe Morton

i really like the music and sound design in this!! cool performances, i really like the physicality of all the aliens. Joe Morton’s very good!!