Every now and then a better-than-average movie slips through the cracks. I believe “The Immigrant” to be one of those movies…
The Immigrant…It’s about—you guessed it—a European immigrant (Marion Cotillard, in a great performance) who comes to New York City in the early part of the 1900s and struggles to survive, quickly falling under the “protection” of a deceptively mild-mannered pimp played by Joaquin Phoenix. The movie begins to lose some steam when Jeremy Renner’s underdeveloped cousin shows up to create an unnecessary love triangle, but when the film follows Phoenix’s insecure flesh-peddler (whose insistence that he’s a good guy even while doing terrible things reminded me of a great Scorsese character) and Cotillard it drew me in. I especially loved the beautiful sepia-toned cinematography and burnished look of Old New York. Grade: B+