Watch The Immigrant For Free

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

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

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

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.

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.

The Immigrant tells us a devastating story, which simultaneously denounces the fallacy of "American dream" and confirms the indomitable spirit of the immigrants who forged the cultural and economical basis of that country. The performances are excellent, the characters are complex, and the cinematography captures the reality of the historical period with a raw beauty. However, I didn't like this film very much, mainly because it didn't make me feel anything, despite all the drama and personal tragedy it displays. The unfortunate experiences the main character lives are mortifying, and unfortunately, they might have been very common in the time in which this movie is set (also nowadays, thinking it well); but for some reason, The Immigrant isn't made with enough passion for us to plunge into the main character's experiences, and it doesn't have a concrete point besides of being a sample book of human suffering which should have been touching, but it isn't. Having said that, I think my opinion about The Immigrant is in the minority, considering all the acclamation this film has received around the world. However, this doesn't mean I couldn't find positive elements in this film, such as the brilliant performances. Marion Cotillard perfectly transmits vulnerability and resistance at the same time. The great Joaquin Phoenix brings a predictably amazing work as the opportunist Bruno, and Jeremy Renner brings a warm and sensitive attitude which totally adjusts to his character. I think that those three performances are enough reason to make The Immigrant worthy of a slight recommendation, with the hope that other spectators will appreciate the emotions and narrative honesty I wasn't able to find.

Wow, OK, I was on Netflix looking for something to watch, I was in a nostalgic melancholy mood and didn't see anything I wanted to watch so I did the Max thing and The Immigrant came up time and again. So I decided to watch it. I can't even tell you how shocked I was at how good this movie was, I wanted a tear jerker and boy did I get one! The acting itself was amazing and completely believable, I found myself talking out loud as I watched it.Joaquin Phoenix,Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner had outstanding performances!! I'm a big movie buff and I just joined IMDb but I have to tell you this is a must see if you want to see something that makes you FEEL!!!