The Brother from Another Planet

1984

Action / Comedy / Sci-Fi

8
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 75% · 28 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 75% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 6985 7K

black people allegory hispanoamerican alien

Plot summary

A mute alien with the appearance of a black human is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem.

Director

John Sayles Photo
John Sayles

Top cast

Giancarlo Esposito Photo
Giancarlo Esposito as Man Being Arrested
Fisher Stevens Photo
Fisher Stevens as Card Trickster
Reggie Rock Bythewood Photo
Reggie Rock Bythewood as Rickey
Bill Cobbs Photo
Bill Cobbs as Walter
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1002.9 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 49 min
Seeds 2
1.82 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 49 min
Seeds 21

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by siderite 8 / 10

Went in for a blackspoitation movie, got a gem of a film

With a ridiculous title as this, I thought the movie would be about alien black people high-fiving each other. Maybe something akin to Blackula or Black Dynamite. Boy, was I wrong. You can see something is off with expectations like these when you see the cast. None of the actors are high rollers in Hollywood, but you know most of them for their work throughout, as support characters.Joe Morton is the main character in the movie, along an African American cast that is too long to list here, but I know most of them. John Sayles, the director, is one of the "immigration agents", while the other is David Strathairn. You've got Fisher Stevens and Giancarlo Esposito in small roles. It just goes on and on. Of course, in 1984 they were not known actors, but they proved in time that they are good ones.The plot is simple, an alien running on Earth from two enforcers, but the script is filled with complexity, tackling in a subtle way things like racism, social status, societal satire. And they are part of the story, while this quiet (Joe Morton doesn't say a word all movie) timid alien is discovering Earth with its good and bad points, starting from Harlem.Bottom line: highly underrated film, it is low budget, but it has class. I am not surprised it has become a cult classic and I am glad I had the chance to see it. And it's free! You can watch it online royalty free.
Reviewed by cultfilmfan 8 / 10

The Brother From Another Planet

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.
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