The Brother from Another Planet

1984
15
1h 48m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

6.8K

YOUR RATING

Joe Morton in The Brother from Another Planet (1984)

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

Play trailer1:09

1 Video

83 Photos

Satire Comedy Sci-Fi

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

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

6.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 1:09

Trailer

Photos83

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
John Sayles financed most of this movie himself. According to Wikipedia, "Sayles describes this movie as being about the immigrant experience of assimilation. He spent part of his MacArthur Fellows 'genius' grant on the film, which cost $350,000 to produce".

Goofs
After Little Earl takes off his band-aid, and The Brother heals his knee, the band-aid reappears where his cut was.

Quotes
Smokey: [Men in Black have just left] White folks get stranger all the time.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: Teachers/Country/The Brother from Another Planet/Old Enough (1984)

Soundtracks
Homeboy
Sung by Joe Morton
By Mason Daring and John Sayles
Sweet Melodies Publishing/ASCAP

User reviews49

Featured review

7/10

An Unusual Cult Classic

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.