The Planet Of Junior Brown

Magical realism calls the tune in this rewardingly offbeat urban drama, which eventually made its debut on Canadian broadast TV instead of the theater screens it so richly deserved. Grossly overweight, gifted teenager Junior Brown (Martin Villafana) is only tenuously in touch with squalid reality. His father is often absent on business, leaving Junior at the mercy of an ailing mother (Lynn Whitfield) so neurotic and manipulative she cut the strings of the prized upright piano in her son's bedroom. Junior instead receives support and protection via an allegiance of slum dwellers, like schoolmate Buddy (Rainbow Sun Francks), a homeless orphan who flirts with the gang l...