1984

DIRECTOR: JOHN SAYLES PRODUCERS: PEGGY RAJSKI AND MAGGIE RENZI SCREENPLAY: JOHN SAYLES STARRING: JOE MORTON (THE BROTHER), TOM WRIGHT (SAM), STEVE JAMES (ODELL), BILL COBBS (WALTER), CAROLINE AARON (RANDY SUE), JAIME TIRELLI (HECTOR), DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER (MALVERNE), JOHN SAYLES (MAN IN BLACK), DAVID STRATHAIRN (MAN IN BLACK)

The Brother from Another Planet

CINECOM INTERNATIONAL • COLOR, 109 MINUTES

A mute alien escapes slavery on his planet only to find himself among the streetwise citizens of Harlem.

Joe Morton as the Brother

Judging by the sci-fi blockbusters that began dominating the genre in the late 1970s and early ’80s, it’s easy to forget that cinematic science fiction got its start without bloated budgets or big-name stars. With his quirky, low-budget comedy-drama The Brother from Another Planet, independent filmmaker John Sayles not only brought the genre back to its origins, he took sci-fi into the streets. Writing, directing, and acting in a supporting role, Sayles shot his movie on the sidewalks of New York in twenty-three days, for only $340,000. Its sly social commentary lies in its colorful characters, all of whom react to a space visitor with varying degrees of comical nonchalance.

As the three-toed alien who crashes his spaceship in the harbor near Ellis Island, Joe Morton expresses sensitivity and wonder without saying a word. (Sayles “wrote the lead not having any vocal cords purposely,” he said, “so we could make the film quickly.”) Because he happens to resemble an African American human, he blends right into the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, where everyone assumes he’s just a quiet “brother” from down the block. Like E.T., the Brother is stuck on a strange planet, able to understand others but not speak, and has a few exceptional abilities up his sleeve. Appropriately enough, in 1980 Steven Spielberg had hired Sayles to write a sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), but never used this script; the project would eventually evolve into E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Morton’s extraterrestrial possesses what Sayles has referred to as “low-budget powers”—he can magically heal and repair just by touching a broken object or injury with his hands. Instead of empowering him with superhero status, this gift merely wins him a low-paying gig repairing video games at an arcade, and endows him with the ability to hotwire a car. On the streets of Harlem, the Brother does what he must to survive.

John Sayles, Joe Morton, and David Strathairn

The Brother arrives in New York City.

The Brother from Another Planet is driven by its dialogue—by turns ironic, realistic, surrealistic, and poignant—filtered through Sayles’s wry comic lens. The barflies at the local watering hole, the Puerto Rican repairman, the Caucasian single mom from Alabama—they all open up to the Brother in a free-flowing stream of chatter about themselves, the way people tend to do when alone with a good listener. Bar regular Walter (Bill Cobbs) believes outer space is filled with “diseases we ain’t even got a name for. Space germs.” When someone suggests the brother might be from Haiti, Walter warns, “Haitians got diseases, man. Voodoo germs.” Sayles and David Strathairn portray the cinema’s first “men in black,” alien bounty hunters who follow the Brother’s trail to Odell’s Bar. Odell asks to see their identification, prompting Sayles to deliver the line “We don’t have to show you any badges” as a hilariously deadpan take on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

The Brother’s removable eyeball

By offering a space alien as a stand-in for an illegal alien, the film redirects the expected sci-fi conventions into some pointed social critique. When the men in black pose as immigration officers and question Randy Sue, played by Caroline Aaron, about taking the Brother in as a boarder, she replies, “We had a kid overdose right downstairs last night, and you’re pestering people about whether they’ve got some piece of paper that says they’re legal.” Also tackling the drug epidemic, violence, and racism, Sayles casually explores the humor, the cruelty, and the camaraderie that exist between races and within neighborhoods. Neither his dialogue nor his passive camera attempts to moralize, only to observe a variety of behaviors from a nonjudgmental distance.

“Harlem was so hospitable,” Sayles told the Los Angeles Times of his experience. “We shot all night once, and it was like a block party.” To emphasize the vibrant district, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson—who had never shot a 35mm film before—focuses on bright colors and high-contrast lighting, while keeping the overall mood toned down and subtle. Brother may be the most natural and gritty sci-fi movie made in the 1980s, proving that big studios and lavish special effects do not define science fiction. By capturing a thought-provoking slice of 1984 street-life, the film broadened the boundaries of sci-fi and has become an underground classic.

FAR-OUT FACTS

The film’s one major special effect—the exterior of the brother’s spaceship—set Sayles back a whopping $12. Doubling for the depths of outer space was a large piece of black construction paper fastened with a pin.

Joe Morton once told the New York Times that the Brother was his favorite role in a lengthy acting career. He met his wife of twenty years, artist Nora Chavooshian, on the set when she designed his three-toed feet.

In 1984, the same year that Brother was released, John Sayles directed Bruce Springsteen in his iconic “Born in the U.S.A.” music video.

MIND-BLOWING MOMENT

During a quiet yet powerful confrontation with a big-time drug dealer, the Brother removes his eyeball from its socket and hands it to the man. The unexpected action is a highly effective literal take on the figure of speech, “Seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.”

KEEP WATCHING

NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984)

MEN IN BLACK (1997)