The physical look of the movie is a revelation of a lost past.

The film, too, changes shape as it goes along, beginning as something resembling social realism before developing into an old-fashioned "woman's picture."

Gray's beautiful, dark film is a reminder of the difficulties faced by immigrants in any place and at any time.

One can forgive Gray the desire to try to reanimate the migration story, to want to find a way to make it reconnect with us. What is unforgivable is stripping them of that dignity. I