OK, here was something to treat myself with, a movie I had heard about many times in the past and never actually saw. I knew The Brother from Another Planet mostly by its premise: an alien that looks like a black man comes to Earth. He doesn’t speak, so people tend to assume things when talking to him. Supposedly a great social satire kind of movie. Sci-fi done right often is social commentary, so yeah, this sounds like it’s right up my alley.
Though anyone expecting some big budget special effects or the like will be sorely disappointed. This isn’t that kind of movie.
The alien referred to only as the Brother (Joe Morton) crash lands on or near Ellis Island. He initially only has one leg as he lost one in the crash, but he can heal most injuries without too much trouble and just grows a new one. Aside from the fact he only has three toes on each foot (and he makes sure to wear shoes as much as possible), he looks like just another resident of Harlem. In the meantime, he’ll make his way around the neighborhood. Since he doesn’t speak, he actually manages to befriend most people he deals with as he teaches himself local customs and manners. People talk to him and just assume his mute attention and occasional hand gesture means what they had already assumed it means. As it is, the Brother does have the ability to fix any broken machine or heal any injury by just laying a hand on whatever needs fixing.
That said, whatever reason the Brother had to come to Earth, he is being pursued by two alien Men in Black (David Strathairn and writer/director John Sayles). They just want to take him back to wherever he came from, presumably. They aren’t overly forthcoming, and the explanations they give (since they can talk) are often confusing and contradictory as they pretend to be human authority figures. Meanwhile, the Brother discovers drug dealers in the neighborhood, finds love however briefly with a soul singer, and just hold down a job repairing arcade games without getting new parts. Can he find a way to stay on Earth?
First off, this is a fairly low budget movie, and it often shows. The Brother’s spaceship is seen from entirely within a dark cockpit with some flashing lights, and I don’t think any of the special effects couldn’t have been done on a 1980s TV budget if not a 1960s one. That’s OK. This isn’t the sort of sci-fi that relies on spectacle or anything along those lines. It’s more about how an alien that can pass for human, and a racial minority at that, gets around in the world. He has to learn about how humans do things, and he does so largely through silent observation. He seems to distrust cops without having to really be told anything about them one way or the other, but he manages to just hang around places that get him a job and a place to live, at least temporarily, while making a place for himself. John Sayles looks like he did what he could with very little money, and that lack of budget shows in places, like a moment when the Brother’s friends at a bar try to put up a fight against the Men in Black. It’s not exactly terrible fight choreography, but it likewise isn’t good either.
But again, that’s OK. The movie instead relies on Morton to act as a wise anchor, someone who maybe can’t talk but has ways of understanding the world, trying to do things to make it better for the people he meets. That can be something as small as untying a struggling dog leashed to a parking meter or as big as doing something about the drug dealers in the area, all nonviolently. He just comes across as a slightly confused if generally benevolent figure in the neighborhood. It would be fairly easy to mess a movie like this up, but fortunately Morton was up to the task. I don’t know that I would call this one of the all-time greats, but it is a fine piece of filmmaking, elevated by a good script and a great central performance.
Grade: A-
0 Comments