The Immigrant (James Gray)

[ledfloyd]

[ledfloyd]

This is a near masterpiece.

[megladon8]

James Gray = I'm there.

Can't wait to see this one.

Two Lovers is bloody wonderful.

[Izzy Black]

This is a near masterpiece.

It is a masterpiece.

[Pop Trash]

USA release date finally?!

[ledfloyd]

It is a masterpiece.

Maybe, I'll have to watch it two or three more times.

[Izzy Black]

Damn right you will. This movie is so good it should earn at least a D+ from Qrazy.

[Qrazy]

Damn right you will. This movie is so good it should earn at least a D+ from Qrazy.

Long gone are the days of the B-.

[Qrazy]

Yeah this wasn't good at all, really uninteresting script. Cotillard plays one of her most obnoxious characters to date. Pheonix is surprisingly mediocre. Visually I suppose it's fine but it's basically The Godfather Part II Ellis island sequence stretched to feature length and then mashed up with Killing of a Chinese Bookie.

I guess I'd give it a C.

[baby doll]

Cotillard plays one of her most obnoxious characters to date.

Explain.

[Qrazy]

Explain.

Her whispery line deliveries grated me.

[baby doll]

Her whispery line deliveries grated me.

I see. I guess I just have a very high tolerance for whispery line deliveries.

As for the movie overall, I thought it was solidly crafted but rarely does it scale the same dramatic heights as We Own the Night (still my favorite of Gray's films).

[Izzy Black]

As for the movie overall, I thought it was solidly crafted but rarely does it scale the same dramatic heights as We Own the Night (still my favorite of Gray's films).

Interesting.

[ledfloyd]

We Own the Night is my least favorite Gray film by a fair margin. Of course, I've yet to see Little Odessa.

[Izzy Black]

For me it's:

1. The Immigrant
2. The Yards
3. Two Lovers
4. We Own the Night
5. Little Odessa

The top 3 are all near equal though, but I love all of his films.

[Qrazy]

Two Lovers was the best for me. I've only seen this, that and We Own the Night. I guess I should see The Yards.

[Izzy Black]

You probably won't care much for the story, but I think you'd appreciate the visuals. I think it's among Harris Savides' best work (well, I think it's his best personally).

[ledfloyd]

The Yards is great. The Yards, The Immigrant, and Two Lovers are on close to equal footing for me, though I'd probably rank them in the reverse order.

[Bosco B Thug]

Nice, that was wild. It's like the Showgirls of immigrant dramas. A big magnifying-glass story of encompassing scope. Verhoeven's style is more equipped for the old-fashioned naïveté and freedom for ridicule of the material than Gray and his super-tasteful visual language, but it's an alternate means towards similar successful, very wise results. Gray is fully aware of the narrative he employs, and along those terms, the film is truly epic and the screenplay well-constructed in its classical-degree of encompassing dramatic ironies and passionate ethical diatribe.

[Qrazy]

I would hope that every director is aware of the script they're currently shooting.

[Bosco B Thug]

I would hope that every director is aware of the script they're currently shooting.

And he executes this knowledge with more distinction than others, is the point.

[Qrazy]

And he executes this knowledge with more distinction than others, is the point.

Which is a fair point but the script is so mediocre that the execution adds little to the final content.

[Dillard]

Which is a fair point but the script is so mediocre that the execution adds little to the final content.

You're wrong about the script.

Argument:

[

Show Spoiler

The script does a beautiful job of building a closed scenario, a scenario in which there is a lot of dread and disgust, and which we figure will play out like a tragedy, and then shifting the script, allowing the characters more autonomy (especially Ewa and Bruno) than we otherwise believed them to have. It is a rare Hollywood film to feature redemption that feels believable and earned in terms of the script. Two scenes featuring powerful monologues help make this redemption work - Ewa explaining herself to her aunt in an attempt to convince her of her goodness and worthiness to receive money from her aunt, and Bruno's final confession with Ewa in which he takes ownership of his many sins, speaking the truth about himself and about Ewa. In the end, Ewa and Bruno grow as characters in surprising ways. The script triumphs in shifting audience expectation to instill greater empathy for our two main characters such that the final shot of the two parting is mingled with a variety of emotions: bittersweetness for the two in parting, relief that Ewa has escaped with her sister, joy that Ewa's kindness and forgiveness has helped unearth Bruno's softer side, sadness for Bruno at the thought that he may never show that side again and remains stuck in his life, etc. In sum: the script is bold and redemptive and features memorable characters.

]

[Qrazy]

Ewa is a non-character, about as interesting as watching paint dry. I realize that you wrote in depth and I should respond in kind but I just can't muster enough interest in this particular project to criticize it robustly. Sorry that I am unable to rise to the challenge in this case.

[Ivan Drago]

This was fucking incredible.