The Immigrant

This remarkable portrait of grace combines excellent period detail with a keen sense of framing and mise en scene. The pictures really do tell so much of the story here, with the final shot being a singular achievement in this regard. Because of the care with which Gray unfolds the story, much of these characters' thoughts and feelings pass beneath the surface, only becoming clear in retrospect. As such, I expect the film to be quite rewarding on repeat viewings.

Such a film about the many contraditions life gives us. For every pure gesture, there is a profane attitude. America is not the land of opportunities, but of sorrow and love. Gray makes sure his Immigrant unfolds like a magnificent novel about the people who built this country with their own bodies and paths -- THAT last shot is maybe the greatest image contemporary America cinema has produced --, not with bricks or tons of money. A human monument.

Not so bad, but definitely James Gray's weakest yet. It's an interesting premise, well acted, and the Bruno character (Phoenix) is compelling (despite Gray's mistake of filming his cathartic key monologue as a side-shot), but the movie, which might have been a gritty social-realist period piece, stumbles instead into melodrama and is plagued by contrivances.

fine line between earnestly evoking unfashionable bygone traditions (borzage, sirk, coppola), and merely demonstrating why they became unfashionable. gray's screenplays cross that line at times, dipping into tired archetype which distances me from the characters' struggles. the way he communicates through his amber-embalmed compositions is absolutely unimpeachable though, and TWO LOVERS remains an all-timer, its script awkwardness seeming the logical expression of stunted characters.

Despite its intentions, nothing about this seems to ring true.