The Immigrant

The Immigrant

In a nod to the social realism of American cinema in the late silent era, The Immigrant is an operatic take on a city full of charlatans, pimps, and immigrants. Its citizens are larger than life and drawn as broadly as a sepia photograph in fading newsprint. But like Bruno and Ewa, they are carving out a living in whatever way they can, leaving behind the wars and pogroms of fading homelands. What happens in The Immigrant‘s central love triangle is at first a bit of a shock. But then it just continues to crescendo as Gray conducts the performances of Pheonix, Cotillard, and Renner into themes of cruelty, kindness, and humanizing loyalty. Though the film is classic and familiar, its refrains of grace are timeless. The Immigrant is an indelible spiritual reflection in an era of cinema always looking for something new. — M. Leary (Filmwell)(2014)

  1. Directed by: James Gray
  2. Produced by: James Gray Christopher Woodrow
  3. Written by: James Gray Ric Manello
  4. Music by: Christopher Spelman
  5. Cinematography by: Darius Khondji
  6. Editing by: John Axelrad Kayla Emter
  7. Release Date: 2013
  8. Running Time: 120
  9. Language: English

Arts & Faith Lists:

2020 Top 100 — #91

Similar Posts

  • The Phantom Carriage

    In The Phantom Carriage, director Victor Sjöström plays David Holm, a heartless unrepentant rascal who receives two summons one New Year’s midnight. The first is from a dying nun who showed him the most undeserved act of mercy he ever received; the second is from the phantom who drives Death’s titular carriage. As the film shows…

  • Winter Light

    John Ford’s 1956 Western, The Searchers, ends with the camera framing a doorway, looking out into the gloriously filmed desert. As his remaining friends and family cross over the threshold into the welcoming house, John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards stays outside, watching them. Then he pauses a moment, turns, and walks off into the red dust. There’s…

  • Becket

    A film that has often invited comparisons to A Man for All Seasons (Top 100 #31), Becket is also the story of a high official in Britain who chooses God over king and is slain for his beliefs. Thomas Becket begins the movie as the king’s closest friend, and thus his transformation into God’s man and the king’s opponent…

  • Eureka

    Simon Kessler is a psychologist high up in the human resources department of the Paris branch of the German company chemical company SC Farb. Kessler’s boss gives him what must be an intimidating job, though he never shows any hesitation. He needs to investigate the company’s CEO, who has been acting irregularly, deteriorating quickly from…

  • A Man Escaped

    In her essay “Spiritual Style in the Films of Robert Bresson,” Susan Sontag argues that “All of Bresson’s films have a common theme: the meaning of confinement and liberty.” A Man Escaped develops this theme more explicitly than in any other of his works, making it the best entry point into Bresson’s oeuvre.  The film details the…