The Brother From Another Planet [1984] John Sayles

The Brother from Another Planet (1984)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087004/

DUAL AUDIO TRACK
TRACK 1 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
TRACK 2 COMMENTARY BY JOHN SAYLES

A mute, black alien escapes from slavery. On the run, it crashlands on Earth. In a Manhattan bar, the alien is accepted by the locals who find him a place to stay and a job after he demonstrates the ability to heal electronic equipment simply by touching it. There he tries to make sense of human culture while falling for a beautiful singer. But soon two tall, sinister alien slavers arrive to recapture him.


Joe Morton ... The Brother
Rosanna Carter ... West Indian Woman
Ray Ramirez ... Hispanic Man
Yves Rene ... Haitian Man
Peter Richardson ... Islamic Man
Ginny Yang ... Korean Shopkeeper
Daryl Edwards ... Fly
Steve James ... Odell
Leonard Jackson ... Smokey
Bill Cobbs ... Walter
Maggie Renzi ... Noreen
Olga Merediz ... Noreen's Client
Tom Wright ... Sam
Minnie Gentry ... Mrs. Brown
Renn Woods ... Bernice (as Ren Woods)

This marvellously witty little film was made by writer-director John Sayles. Today Sayles is one of America’s foremost independent filmmakers with the likes of the brilliant Matewan (1987) and the highly acclaimed likes of Passion Fish (1992), The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), Lone Star (1996), Men with Guns (1997), Limbo (1999), Sunshine State (2002), Case de los Babys (2003), Silver City (2004) and Honeydripper (2007). Up until making The Brother from Another Planet, Sayles had made money writing B movies for Roger Corman – including genre movies such as Piranha (1978), Alligator (1980), Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) and The Howling (1980). Sayles debuted as director with the competently made gangster film Lady in Red (1979) and the teen drama Baby It’s You (1982). Such work allowed him to break out as an independent with The Brother from Another Planet, which he made for a mere $400,000, most of it bankrolled out of his own pocket.

The film jumps on the alien visitors trend inspired by Spielberg and E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) where Sayles’ spin is to take E.T.out of the suburbs and into Harlem. It is E.T. with a hip urban social conscience – the alien here is not so much a wide-eyed anthropomorph come to touch the empty lives of the young at heart but akin to Peter Sellers’s Chauncy Gardener in Being There (1979). Joe Morton (who in his subsequent bit parts has never been better than he has here) is written as a wide-eyed Candide, set up to wander through the film in mute, blank-faced deadpan taking on the absurdities of our culture – asked to point the way to the subway he jerks his thumb at the floor; buying a record he throws the vinyl away but keeps the picture on the sleeve.

Sayles writes and the talented cast provide a series of monologues that are extremely funny – the secretary on the phone complaining about the guy who wants a relationship with her after having gone out with her five times, or the encounter between Joe Morton and two guys on their way to a self-actualisation conference. The most hilariously bizarre feature is David Strathairn and John Sayles himself who play the two aliens slavers, who are like epileptic fish out of water with their lumbering, jerky gait and attempts to blend in familiar mannerisms – like entering a bar and ordering two beers on the rocks.

John Sayles spent the late 1970's writing and producing largely forgettable movies for B-movie maestro Roger Corman, including Piranha (1978), which told the story of a small community under attack from (you guessed it) piranhas, and Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), which basically retold the story of Star Wars, but with much cheaper-looking special effects and Richard Thomas (John Boy in The Waltons) in the Hans Solo role (I have to say I despised Battle Beyond the Stars).

He began directing his own movies in 1980, all of which were very much character driven, with dialogue rather than action driving the narrative. This reflected both his backgrounds as a writer and his interest in creating multi-dimensional, realistic characters, as well as an obvious lack of money to spend. During this time, he made Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980), Lianna (1983) and Baby, It's You (1983), all of which explored different aspects of personal relationships. Return... has been often been compared favourably to The Big Chill ,which was released in the same year.

One of the many revelations in The Brother from Another Planet is its presentation of how most people in the story are so wrapped up in themselves that they don't really need the Brother to talk to them at all. The most blatant narcissist is the Wall Street dope dealer (Edward Baran) whom the Brother eventually confronts about the death of the boy in Harlem. For the dealer, dealing in heroin is simply a means of coping with "some cash flow problems."

Joe Morton is marvelous as the Brother, using only his face and gestures to communicate a variety of emotions. In the end, he must call upon fellow blacks in Harlem to fend off slave dealers from his home planet. His new friends risk their lives helping him, even as he served them by getting rid of the heroin chief. The Brother from Another Planet ends by affirming the triumph of conscience and community over death dealers of all stripes.