You won't be disappointed!

Please don't spend money on this.

best movie i've ever seen.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The ImmigrantEven though the script isn't as convoluted as the writers think, they wisely installed plenty of extra room for other sub-plots to factor in, which was smart of them to play safe, and that can be the accurate description of the feature in a word; safe. It is rich on technical aspects like cinematography, costume design, make-up design, art design and editing. The script focuses more on its three dimensional pragmatic characters that are unpredictable, dark and brutally honest that helps the feature to draw out the attention of the viewers. James Gray; the writer-director, has done a tremendous work on executing this character driven feature and pushes its boundary on the script by visiting unexpected places that helps on keeping the audience on the edge of the seat. It is no short on performance for obvious reasons, like Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner as a supporting actor. The chemistry among the actors doesn't communicate to the viewers despite of offering a wider range for them to factor in, which is the only downer in here as the emotions comes out a bit shallow. The Immigrant migrates involuntarily and suffers for art where its gripping screenplay is what keeps the feature alive despite of having stellar performance.

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.

Like, 3 stars max. I found it boring, way over-dramatic, and extremely obvious. There's no character development or any reason at all that either of those dudes would be soooo in love with her. Her character could have been 10 million times more interesting. It was like she was doing a great impression of a Polish immigrant who had a lobotomy. "I make money" "I need my money" "My sister is here" "Where is my sister" .....over and over again for 2 hours. Actors are way too good to be in something with a script that poor. No edge, no script, no reason to watch this movie. BOO. I couldn't even figure out if she was smart or dumb the entire time - what a terrible female figure - she doesn't fight against them, just kind of whimpers and goes along and spits out her "money" or "sister" line repeatedly. ugh.

I was eager to see The Immigrant, curious about how the filmmakers would handle the Polishness of the lead character, Ewa Cybulska (played by the wonderful French actress Marion Cotillard). Would there be any Polish spoken? Would Cotillard handle her role as well as Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice? Although the film is sometimes a little too pat, a little too Hollywood, I needn't have worried about the authenticity of the characters, and the film handles the unsavory aspects of the lives of immigrants in 1921 New York with discretion. What surprised me most about the film is the way it tackled the centuries old tension between ethnic Poles and Polish Jews. Ewa is a naive arrival from Poland to Ellis Island, where she and her sister are detained because the sister has tuberculosis and must be deported. One always suspects that this checking was deliberately done on the other side of the ocean, after passage had been paid. Be that as it may, devoted to her sister and her Catholic religion, Ewa soon falls victim to a scheme that involves payoffs and bribes and falling into the clutches of a volatile Jewish schemer, Bruno Weiss, who promises to bankroll the sister's freedom. Desperate and alone, Ewa sees no other choice but to play along and put a price tag on her body in scenes that are sometimes more comical than lurid. Played by Joaquin Phoenix with all the tension and weirdness we've come to expect from this strange actor, her pimp falls in love with her-- as does a magician in Weiss's sleazy burlesque show. Ewa's volatile relationship with the two men--her conflicted pimp and his romantic cousin--leads to a surprising conclusion. This is very much a Hollywood film but very much worth seeing.