Absolutely Fantastic

There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Blistering performances.

Not even close!"Crossing Over" borrows the structure of "Crash" sticks it with "Babel" and then send it through the time machine to come back later as a more typical "American" apparel: "Patriots Day" - which even had the more appealing term in it for everyday. This underrated film was meant to never cross over the barriers of actual controversies to tell interlocking stories about several immigrants, their problems and their families. But it did seemed like it wanted to try. All of their lives connect in some way, if only through U.S. immigration officials. "Crash" wove its pattern fairly naturally. "Crossing Over" seems to strain, with too many characters, too many story strands and too much of an effort to cover the bases. We meet immigrants new and established, legal and illegal, from Mexico, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Iran, England, Korea and Australia. It feels like a list.The interfacing connections are linked with two Immigration officers, played by Harrison Ford and Cliff Curtis; an adjudicator (Ray Liotta), and an immigration defence attorney (Ashley Judd). The stories include a Mexican lady isolated from her kid in an attack; an Iranian family, entrenched, which is going to be naturalised; a Muslim youngster who draws in a FBI examination by perusing a blunt (yet honest to goodness) paper around 9/11 in class; a Korean adolescent (Justin Chon) who is being compelled to join a Korean posse; an Australian would-be performer; a sceptic Jew from Great Britain who acts like an educator whose nearness is required in a Hebrew school, and somewhat Nigerian vagrant who has been stranded in a holding focus and will be sent back to Africa and threat. Some of these stories are interesting and some are terrible, yet together they appear to be excessively created. It's excessively flawless the way they blend, similar to the movement on road exchanges found in overhead shots that different the entries. I was particularly moved by Ford's inclusion with the Mexican lady (Alice Braga), who is pulled away, begging him to recover her youngster from the sitter. He plays a tolerable man whose inner voice won't let him overlook, and he winds up joining the tyke with grandparents in Mexico. Also, there's a whole other world to it than that. It's hard for him to leave his occupation at work. But that kid with the 9/11 embargo was the most heartbreaking one and surpasses every other. (It's actually pretty believable, you can't deny it, it happens a lot in this country). AND The standout scene: Korean store robbery.Harrison Ford supplies the solid focal strand in the story, yet in some cases it develops so unrealistically sensational, we're occupied. Ashley Judd's character gives bits of knowledge in the way our legitimate framework handles movement, and the Australian performer (Alice Eve) demonstrates what she will accomplish for the corrupt authority (Liotta), who happens to be Judd's better half. There is a difference between an Iranian father who considers himself a decent Muslim and a girl (Summer Bishil) who considers herself a decent Muslim and a decent American. We invest a considerable measure of energy discussing the American Dream and have excessively doubt about the individuals who need to live it. Emotions against foreigners are so openly communicated even in obliging society that you'd think they all came here for the free lunch. "Crossing Over" makes a mosaic, too oversimplified to be in any way beyond any doubt, of late landings who came here for outstanding reasons and will be significant residents in the event that they find the opportunity. Why bother lecturing right? You know and I know very well that it is too damn difficult to move to this nation lawfully and possibly lethal to do it wrongfully. But do you give a damn? You just want to enjoy the easy pickings for your own pleasure or to take your anger out am I right? Of course I am. I do the same thing.That is the reason I guess we get a portion of the best and the brightest; it takes assurance, aspiration and aptitude to get into the United States in any case. A large number of the individuals who arrive need to enhance themselves, and all the while, they will enhance you, me and us.Now, the film is very enjoyable for any thriller drama fan. The rest might just have to leave their moronic pointless views out the door for a bit. In any case, yes, the film is "imperfect" - that can be my inner snobby film faultfinder's grievance. And in case you're searching for credibility and oppose control, you'll question it. Yet, some of the time Motion Pictures are so fascinating, in spite of their shortcomings, you need to just continue viewing because it's so damn worth it.This one works that way.

ICE agents Max Brogan (Harrison Ford) and Hamid Baraheri (Cliff Curtis) are ICE catch Mireya Sanchez (Alice Braga) during a raid. High school student Taslima Jahangir from Bangladesh gets caught up after doing a presentation favorable to the 9/11 hijackers. Claire Sheperd (Alice Eve) is an aspiring actress from Australia without a green card. Her friend Gavin Kossef (Jim Sturgess) is a musician from the UK. She is coerced into sex with immigration officer Cole Frankel (Ray Liotta). He's married to immigration lawyer Denise (Ashley Judd).This is trying very hard to be Crash with illegal immigration. I would rather have concentrated on one story. The problem is that it tries too hard. It even has a couple of white illegals. Some are more compelling stories than others. Worst, it does not add up to something good. Wayne Kramer is not good enough to tackle this important issue.

I stumbled across this movie on TV, a few minutes after it started. After awhile I realized that the movie had been made by the people who made Crash, but I was wrong. It had the same kind of pattern and similar dramatics, etc., so I was surprised that whereas Crash was a hit with the critics, Crossing over was a flop. Who know why, probably something to do with packaging and selling.It was on again tonight and I had it on while doing housework. I still found the drama punchy, but the idea of people absolutely craving to be in the US a bit silly. What, do they wanna be mugged or go obese? But apparently, there are opportunities in the US; you can open a burger joint, a pizza place, a coffee shop, etc., that mostly fail (80% in the first year). And yes, as somebody commented, the idea of being deported to Australia (a better country than the US) is amusing, but the girl deportee wanted to become an actress in the US, where good films like this one fail but junk like Transformers hits the stars.

Wow, this really shows the worst of real-life situations and the total insanity that is the U.S. immigration system. It hit me at a core of my personal and religious beliefs that spoke loud and clear, that the whole idea of immigration and nationalism is insane. And I did study psychology and I mean insane, right up there with delusional schizophrenia.I see now, that nationalism is the worst sickness to ever be inflicted upon the planet. It is truly a mental illness by all definitions of the word. I would never support the INS. What a bunch of lost people, breaking all the higher laws of human rights and going against the will of God.This is pure pure pure insanity. When will people wake up? Loved the film, because it so clearly showed what a bunch of crazy insane people the human race is. Wake up! National sovereignty is insanity. Sovereignty should be only at the individual level, where it only logically deserves to be.