James Gray's The Immigrant
Filmmakers James Gray and Kelly Reichardt will take part in the Film Society's ongoing Free Talks series this month. Gray, who directed The Immigrant, will take part in a discussion on May 7 about his latest feature, which screened at last year's New York Film Festival, while Reichardt (Night Moves) will be the focus of the informal discussion about her film Night Moves on May 28. The events will be held in the Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. As always, the events are free.
Free tickets to the Film Society Talks will be distributed at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center box office (144 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam) on a first-come, first-served basis starting one hour prior to the conversations. Limit one complimentary ticket per person, subject to availability. For those unable to attend in person, video from the event will be available online at FilmLinc.com. Additional information on moderators and talks will be announced at a later date so stay tuned and visit FilmLinc.com for more information.
Details and schedules follow:
James Gray, The Immigrant
Young Polish immigrant Ewa (Marion Cotillard, in a thrilling performance), after being separated from her sister at Ellis Island, finds herself caught in a dangerous battle of wills with a shady burlesque manager (Joaquin Phoenix) in James Gray’s richly detailed period tragedy. And when a charismatic magician (Jeremy Renner) starts to compete for Ewa’s affections, The Immigrant begins building steadily to its devastating climax. Working with the great cinematographer Darius Khondji (Se7en, Amour), Gray imagines 1920s Manhattan as a dusty, sepia-toned dreamworld, sometimes faintly luminous but often dejectedly burnt-out—and the same could be said of the film’s heroes. A lovingly wrought portrait of Prohibition-era New York, it is also a morally ambiguous, open-ended reflection on family loyalty, urban disillusionment, and the unpredictable twists and turns of human motivation. Based on the stories and experiences told to the director by his grandparents, The Immigrant is perhaps one of the last of its kind—a personal epic.
Wednesday, May 7, 7:00pm
Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves
Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves
Set against the ravishing, threatened natural beauty of Oregon, the film tracks step by relentless step as quiet organic farmer Josh (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network), high-society dropout Dena (Dakota Fanning, War of the Worlds, the Twilight saga), and adrenaline-driven ex-Marine Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard, Blue Jasmine) prepare, carry out, and then experience the shocking fallout of what they hoped would be an attention-grabbing act of sabotage. Feeling they have been pushed to the limit by disregard for the local ecosystem, the trio is about to see their own personal limits tested. American landscapes and narratives of the road are themes that run throughout director Kelly Reichardt’s films (River of Grass, Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff), and now she brings her distinctive voice to the thriller genre.
Wednesday, May 28, 7:00pm
