I’m curious if writer/director James Gray really couldn’t come up with a less generic title for his latest film than The Immigrant. I’d hate to be on the marketing team trying to promote it because the thoughtless title doesn’t make this period drama any less of a tough sell to audiences, which is a shame because it’s a pretty good (albeit flawed) film.
Ewa (Marion Cotillard) is the elder of two sisters who arrive at Ellis Island from Poland in January 1921 after the murder of their parents. They immediately find themselves in trouble when the younger sister is quarantined and Ewa is deemed to be morally corrupt after rumors of her actions on the boat to America. Officials determine she needs to be sent back to Poland, but a seemingly kind man, Bruno Weiss (Joaquin Phoenix), takes a shine to her and pays off a guard to look the other way when she escapes with him. Recognizing Ewa’s beauty, Bruno sets her up in a tenement apartment on the Lower East Side where she can work as a seamstress for his burlesque theater, The Bandit’s Roost, across the street. However, Ewa quickly learns the power of money in America and is soon swept up in the seedier aspects of Bruno’s operation, all while trying to get a read on the man who essentially controls her every movement — and whom she hates but depends on. While she tries to earn enough money to pay for her sister’s care, she meets Bruno’s cousin Orlando the magician (Jeremy Renner), a flashy, devil-may-care charmer who causes conflict with his cousin when he takes a liking to Ewa.
Bruno is one of Phoenix’s most intriguing characters from an actor whose career has been marked by intriguing characters. Bruno is controlling, yet emotionally fragile and aggressive, yet fearful. He has the outgoing nature of a carnival barker but is too timid to speak for himself. He’s part drunk and part eloquent, and full of both violent outbursts and cowardly fits. It’s no surprise that he is overwhelmingly jealous of his cousin Orlando , who is just as much of a scoundrel as Bruno but is better looking and, more importantly, far more confident. Cotillard faces her own contradictions because she is perfect for her role, but that also means that there’s nothing about Ewa that is particularly challenging for Cotillard. She’s mysterious and reserved, but obviously intelligent, which describes most of Cotillard’s characters since her American breakthrough. It’s disappointing that her character, which shows so much of that hard working immigrant mentality at the beginning of the film, is essentially reduced to an afterthought in the battle between cousins for her hand. This plays out probably too slowly for most audiences, but fans of films that unfold slowly probably won’t think so — even if they’ll think it’s light on story.
But while the storyline seeps into generic territory, it’s hard to not admire the film from a visual standpoint. Gray and cinematographer Darius Khondji have shot a gorgeous film which definitely draws on Khondji’s experience shooting Midnight in Paris. The film has that wonderful gaslight glow that is hard to simulate in the 21st century (although the historic Old Town Bar in Manhattan, one of my favorites that is used in several scenes, still has it), and the period clothing and props put the film on the same level as the current historically accurate cable television series that most of us love. Any aspiring cinematographer ought to study this one.
So I wish Gray and co-writer Richard Menello (who previously collaborated on the script for Two Lovers, which also starred Phoenix) had found a better story to fit this beautiful film, because the love triangle plot is as generic as the title. In fact, Ewa is such a thin character that it made me want to see even more focus on Phoenix’s Bruno. Considering that he’s already in about two-thirds of the movie, that’s quite telling. It’s a shame that this couldn’t be better, especially since in the post-film press conference Gray expressed how personal the film is to him (perhaps that’s why he had a vulgar response to critics who saw the film at Cannes and didn’t like it).
Rating: A beautifully shot film that is really hurt by a story that isn’t very original despite its setting (5.5/10).
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