Wonderful Movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Director James Gray returns in his 2013 production of The Immigrant to one of his recurrent themes - the one that made him known in the first long feature film he made Little Odessa - immigration, and to his preferred background which features also in his debut but also in the more recent Two Lovers - New York. Actually his other well known feature film We Own the Night was not located too remotely as well. In all his last film we also enjoy the presence of Joaquin Phoenix, an actor that I highly appreciate. We can already speak about a cluster of works happening more or less in the same milieu, with a team of actors and a style of story telling that make it consistent. Not necessarily successful - to my taste at least.This story of two sisters arriving in New York in the 1920s, and their fight to remain in the New Promised Land and survive by all means could have been made in 1930, or 1960, or 1990. It would have looked a little different as technical means differ, but otherwise not too much seems to have changed. The 2013 version adds too little from an emotional point of view to really make a true emotional or social impact. Neither does the passionate and tragic love story between the pimp and the new innocent immigrant look too true. It starts as a story of mutual destruction, it continues as a tragic love triangle, it ends by destroying the charmer and the harmer in a too much expected way.If there is one actress who can play wonderfully melodrama today on screens, this is Marion Cotillard. She does exactly what is expected, and so does Joaquin Phoenix. This is not enough. Director James Gray knows how to tell a story on screen, but his style must overcome the clichés in order to free the good director we guess he is. Chaplin's film with the same name made almost 100 years ago still remains a stake of value hard to exceed.

Marion Cotillard puts on an impressive performance as a Polish woman immigrating to the United States in 1921. Upon arriving on Ellis Island, she has one bad experience after another. We see how even today people trying to enter the United States - most of them from Latin America - are more likely to spend time in detention facilities. Worse still, politicians claim that people move to the US to import drugs or steal our jobs.Like I said, it's a good movie. Usually one whom I've seen in glamorous roles, Marion Cotillard pulls off this waif-like role perfectly. Darius Khondji's cinematography gives the viewer the feeling of a truly grim existence. I recommend the movie.

"Is it a sin to want to survive, when I have done so many bad things?" Ewa (Cotillard) has just arrived from Poland and is waiting to be processed into America. While she is in line her sister is taken to the infirmary and she is told that the address she gave of her relatives isn't accurate and is selected for removal back to Poland. When Bruno Wise (Phoenix) saves her from deportation she is very grateful. He also offers her a job in order to raise money to get her sister free. What starts off as a happy arrangement soon changes when Ewa leans of what she has to do. I went into this movie wondering how a movie with this cast wasn't a major release. After about a half hour I had my answer, and by the end I wondered why they made this at all. The acting is terrific and is really the only reason to watch. The movie subject has been done many times but again the acting is what makes this seem better. As far as watching goes this is very slow moving and I found myself daydreaming a few times which caused me to lose focus as to what was going on. I found myself not caring that I missed some of it, and by the end I was glad it was done. Overall, a movie with amazing acting but a real struggle to sit through. For me anyway. I disappointingly give this a C.

Marion Cotillard is one of the most lovely actresses currently working, and she struggles hard to make something of this blah film, but her talents are mostly wasted."The Immigrant" starts promisingly, but it's not long before the film begins to sag under the weight of dull pacing and a relentlessly somber tone. Joaquin Phoenix ratchets up the ick factor to play a man who takes advantage of recently-emigrated women and with whom Cotillard's character strikes up a queasy relationship, not so much because she likes him but because he's the only thing resembling a protector she has in an unfamiliar world. Jeremy Renner is a welcome presence as a rival for Cotillard's affections, but he has far too little screen time and leaves the film too early. Phoenix is absolutely repulsive to look at (as usual) and listen to with his mush-mouthed line readings, and his unpleasantness overwhelms the film and everything in it, including Cotillard.Handsome production values and some good moments tantalize the audience with what might have been under more dynamic direction and with a different leading man.Grade: C+