After a well-received premiere at the Cannes Film Festival almost a year ago, James Gray’s period drama The Immigrant is finally preparing to hit screens stateside. There was a time where it was presumed that The Weinstein Company would be relegating The Immigrant to a VOD release via its Radius-TWC brand, but the company did an about face earlier this spring, opting instead to send the film into a limited theatrical run. Now, The Immigrant, which stars Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix, has received a U.S. trailer and accompanying poster, along with a slew of images.
The trailer offers a tantalizing look into the stunningly beautiful world of 1921 New York, as immaculately lensed by Darius Khondji. It’s clear that The Immigrant is going to be a delicious visual treat for cinephiles, but the story is also highly promising.
Cotillard plays a Polish immigrant named Ewa, who travels to Ellis Island with her sister in hopes of finding a better life. When her sister, who is suffering from lung disease, is detained, Ewa desperately tries to find a way to rescue her. The naive woman is taken in by Bruno (Phoenix), who gives her a job dancing at his theater but also forces her into a life of prostitution. When Ewa catches the eye of magician Emil (Renner), she becomes the center of a violent, unpredictable tug-of-war between the two men.
This may be the first major contender for next year’s Oscar race (not counting The LEGO Movie, which is a lock for Best Animated Feature), so we’re very excited to see its American debut. We won’t have to wait long, either, as TWC has scheduled the premiere for May 12th.
As for the poster, let’s just say that some people aren’t meant to be Photoshopped. The luminous Cotillard is clearly one of them – her face has been distorted to a horrific degree by this poster, and the weak placement of Renner and Phoenix doesn’t do those actors any favors either. The other shots, including some behind-the-scenes ones, from the film (also below) are much more promising. Take a look, and keep an eye out for The Immigrant when it opens next month.
