As its title suggests, this quirky and uneven film is about an alien who looks like a black human (except for the three-toed feet! ). The Brother (Joe Morton) is an escapee from another planet who crash-lands his spaceship in New York harbour and makes his way to Harlem. Despite being mute, he is accepted by the locals who are impressed by his ability to repair video games, and he falls for a night-club singer (Dee Dee Bridgewater). The trouble with this film is that director/writer John Sayles had two ways to jump: he either used the alien's eyes to examine the human (and particularly black) condition or he made a spoof that poked fun at sci-fi films and the 'blaxploitation' pictures of the Seventies. By trying to do both, Sayles unsurprisingly doesn't fully succeed in doing either. Still, it's an interesting curiosity and, despite his lack of dialogue, Morton is very effective as the stranger in a strange land.


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