Cheap The Brother from Another Planet (DVD) (Joe Morton, Daryl Edwards) (John Sayles) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Brother from Another Planet

The fullscreen is one of the worst stateside dvd transfers in existence. Many night scenes seem to be taking place in a storm of dust. The day scenes aren't much better; each one looks like it was filmed after sundown. The glorious color cinematography of Earnest Dickerson is ruined, both by the muted color and by the 4:3 remframing. Though not nearly as vibrant as Dickerson's later work on Do the Right Thing, this is still a suprisingly compelling movie from a visual standpoint. If you get the fullscreen, you'll never know.

And at last, you can see every nuance of Joe Morton's face! His great performance as the brother, which has not one single spoken word, is finally visible in all its complexity. So are the faces of the residents of Harlem, both good and bad, that we encounter throughout the film. As many have noted, the sci-fi effects are totally laughable (the removable eye, especially), but that's not what this film is about. It's about a new way to look at the experiece of race and community, and it succeeds brilliantly.

A final note on the pro-fullscreen reviewer: if you look up his reviews, you will note that he hates Taxi Driver and loves both Ishtar and Howard the Duck. I rest my case.

'Brother' is a Gem
'Brother From Another Planet' is a gem of a movie from director John Sayles. Yes, it's low-budget (typical Sayles), and yes it sounds like b-grade science-fiction at first (alien lands on Earth, pursued by other aliens), but it's so much more than that. First off, the alien (played by Joe Morton, who does not utter a word througout the movie) is black and, luckily, lands in Harlem. Slowly but surely, he finds a way to not only make a living (by fixing electronics), but also manages to help out those who live around him. No offense meant to Mr. Morton, but this is probably his best performance to date.Meanwhile, he's pursued by the two other aliens, who are white (one of whom is played by Sayles himself), and have their own interactions with the Harlem community.In this little, very underplayed film, Sayles manages to say a lot about community, race, charity and mankind itself. Endnote: Keep your eye out for the 'eye out' scene.

Amazing
This is one of my favorite films of all time. Like many really good Sci Fi tales, it is ultimately a very human story. I love so many of the scenes - the character interactions in the bar scenes are great. And Joe Morton is terrific.

They didn't have much budget for this and there are obvious clumsy mistakes in the movie. Some of the mistakes are even pointed out in the director's comments, but it just adds to the enjoyment. (But my DVD copy is just fine. I don't understand the quality complaints in other reviews here.)

For all the rough spots, I don't miss the million dollar effects one bit. Effects might even push the story aside too much. This DVD will always have an honored place on my shelf and I will enjoy this many more times. (And I could never say the same for Matrix Revolutions, for example.)