The Immigrant

It's 1921. Polish sisters Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and Magda Cybulska arrive in NYC. Magda is quarantined and Ewa is accused of having low morals threatened with deportation. She's desperate to stay and find her sister. Bruno Weiss (Joaquin Phoenix) manages the burlesque Bandits' Roost. He zeros in on the vulnerable Ewa and eventually pushes her into prostitution. She tracks down her relatives but her uncle gets the police and she's sent back to Ellis Island slated for deportation. There she sees a performance by Orlando the magician (Jeremy Renner) who turns out to be Bruno's cousin Emil.

This is a beautiful looking film. James Gray is able to achieve that much. The actors are first rate and Marion Cotillard is a true standout here. I love that her character isn't a simple innocent. She's smart enough not to trust Bruno right from the start. I don't like Bruno's character as much. He's a damaged person but the movie seems intent to create sympathy for him. Joaquin has a lovely vulnerability but he needs to be a tougher villain. Overall, this movie is simply too slow although it is quite beautiful.

Separated from her ill sister and facing deportation, a Polish immigrant is taken in by a burlesque show operator who may or may not have her best intentions at heart in this drama set in 1920s New York. The film holds no bars in depicting the difficulties of immigration as our disillusioned protagonist, played by Marion Cotillard, comes to accept an existence very different to what she once imagined. Cotillard's performance is rather multi-layered: simultaneously vulnerable and ruthless (resorting to stealing what she can), and simultaneously accepting of her fate and focused on achieving more. Joaquin Phoenix is also superb as the burlesque man with a breakdown scene near the end in which he finally drops all pretenses to reveal a beating human heart. Their situation is also complicated by Cotillard encountering Phoenix's estranged cousin, played by Jeremy Renner, and a love triangle develops that never quite clicks since we are unsure until the end whether Phoenix really loves her, and as it is never clear whether Renner really loves her either or just wants to make Phoenix jealous. Certainly, an animosity exists between the two cousins that the film does not explore in as much depth as it perhaps could have. Still, what the film does do well it does very, very well. It is quite rare to find a film with such a graphic insight into the harsh actual reality of the American Dream and Cotillard's character is very much one-of-a-kind. Torn between would-be saviours and false promises, she never once gives up hope, even if her own American Dream is decidedly different by the end.

I just finished this movie and wanted to leave a review, while the credits are still rolling.

I'm one of the harsher critics on IMDb, but I enjoyed The Immigrant. This is a dark film about Prohibition-era New York, and the trials of Eastern European immigrants who have come here in the hopes of a better life.

Like most good films, good and evil are blurred. We aren't asked to judge the characters, but rather to observe them as they are.

The plot is solid and the performances are impressive, particularly Marion Cotillard and Juaquin Phoenix.

James Gray's beautifully shot 1920s New York period drama about the American dream gone to seed for a Polish woman, never stumbles into soap opera melodrama and the film is actually restrained considering the heaps of drama thrown at this woman. Marion Cotillard gives a wonderful performance as the immigrant who finds herself exploited in prostitution and the script wisely never makes her blind to the fact that things will be quickly heading south for her - she's a strong, smart woman who's hostage to a miserable situation. Jeremy Renner makes the most of his small but pivotal role and is the only character who seems to be having a good enough time and he injects some munch needed energy into this story. It's Phoenix, whose shyster character is the most complicated, that never comes across convincing. And while Phoenix is never for a moment boring to watch and for the most part doesn't over act, his acting decisions seem too thought out and theatrical. While Cotillard, Renner and the rest of the cast give performances that feel natural and embody these characters, it always feels like Phoenix is acting. Though locations are minimal and the few exterior shots are usually in a tunnel, the period detail is convincing and it's a nice too see a period film actually shot on film instead of digital. The Immigrant is a good showcase for Cotillard's talents and despite its flaws, definitely worth a watch.

7.4 stars.

'The Immigrant' starts off really good. They captured the 1920's a genuinely as any film I've seen. What I didn't quite understand were the characters. They are all acted superbly, yet something is amiss with a few of the secondary females and also Renner's character. Can't quite put a finger on it, but whatever it was, it didn't completely eliminate my enjoyment.

As usual, Joaquin Phoenix shines as the shady and miserable, self-loathing individual. We become somewhat sympathetic of him as time passes, just a little, but there are ups and downs. He is quite an intriguing and disgusting fellow, but he has one or two decent qualities (you'll see). Renner's character is a very likable man, yet something is strange with him, and you can see glimpses of his quirks. Miss Cotillard also performs with great intensity and I feel like her portrayal was a mixture of driven and wooden. Frankly, I feel that she was being very realistic in her portrayal of a woman experiencing such severe abuse. The downside is that her strong accent is a bit difficult to understand, and the sound was not the best. I was tempted to put on the subtitles, which is very rare for me.

This film was a bit too uneven for my tastes. There was so much potential, but something was out of place. Frankly, I think the whole Renner side plot was mishandled. However, I can't shake the gut instinct that it was unbalanced. Even with this caliber of actors, it wasn't quite enough to round up to 8.0, and that's too bad.