9 of the best movies about American immigrants

Michelle Yeoh in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Allyson Riggs/A24)

Evelyn sees the American Dream as being able to “do whatever we want,” but she must first get over her feelings that “with every passing moment [she] could have made something of her life.” Was leaving China, and disappointing her parents by marrying Waymond the right decision? “Everything Everywhere All at Once” shows not only the roads Evelyn did not take, but also the dreams she never followed, and how good her life could have been — especially when Waymond tells her, “In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”  The Daniels’ film stresses the importance of failure and letting go, because living up to the American Dream may not be all it is cracked up to be. (Stream it on Showtime).

Hester Street (Cohen Media Group)

“Hester Street” captures immigrant tensions as a peddler in the old country becomes Jake’s boss in the new land, and one character complains about having to take a train to see a tree. Shot in black and white and largely in Yiddish, this is a feel-good feminist film that showcases immigrant lives with authenticity and features a highly satisfying denouement. (Stream it on MUBI, Kanopy, and the Cohen Media Channel).

Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera in “In the Heights” (Warner Bros.)

Arguably the best musical number in “In the Heights” isn’t the show-stopping “96,000,” set in a community pool, but “Paciencia Y Fe” (“Patience and Faith”) performed by Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) about emigrating from Cuba to “the Washington Heights of Havana.” She came because there was work but being fresh off the boat, and having to learn English, she hoped to become “better off than you were with the bird of La Vibora [Havana].” It’s an emotional memory piece that features the lyrics, “I’ve spent my life/inheriting dreams from you,” that emphasizes the film’s core message: “There’s no place like home.” Alabanza! (Praise) Abulea Claudia! (Stream it on Max)

Potato Dreams of America (Dark Star Pictures)

Emigrating to Seattle, Potato (now played by Tyler Bocock, sporting a Russian accent) attends high school where his teacher is concerned that he is going to lose his beautiful culture. “Why do we want a melting pot when we can toss a salad?” she asks. But Potato bemoans that “No one lets me forget my past,” wanting to immerse himself in American life and culture. (He is gay and repeatedly rents “The Living End” from his local video store.) “Potato Dreams of America” soon reveals that America provides a safe space for LGBTQ people whereas Potato’s class in Russia believes the United States is full of “drugs, perverts and AIDS.” The new country is one Potato and his mother wholeheartedly embrace, despite encountering different issues than the ones they faced at home. (Rent it on iTunes)

Actor Al Pacino stars in ‘Scarface’. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Brian DePalma’s 1983 grandiose gangster epic, a remake of the 1932 classic, opens with documentary footage of the 1980 Mariel boatlift, which had 125,000 refugees leave Cuba for the U.S. Approximately 20% of them had criminal records. One of them is the fictional Tony Montana (a feral Al Pacino in arguably his most beloved performance). When he arrives in Miami, he claims to be a political prisoner, and he delivers an early speech railing against Communism which told him what to do, think and feel. After months of being detained, he buys his freedom by killing someone and ends up working in a restaurant. “I didn’t come to the U.S. to break my back [washing dishes],” Tony insists, and he soon goes to work for Frank Lopez (Robert Loggia), a drug kingpin, before taking over the business.

For Tony, America is the land of opportunity. “In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.” And while Tony rises to power — it is no coincidence that Tony sees the phrase, “The World Is Yours,” on a blimp as he reaches the top — he cannot buy his mother’s (Miriam Colon), respect. She tells him, “It’s the Cubans like you who are giving a bad name to our people. People who come here to work hard.” “Scarface” emphasizes the corruption of purity, most baldly in a subplot featuring Tony’s sister, Gina (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). But ultimately, DePalma’s film is an orgiastic bloodbath about excess. Tony, who came from the gutter (and is called “an immigrant sp** millionaire”), becomes disillusioned, especially in a fancy restaurant, when he asks, “Is this it?” with a weariness that belies his ambition to achieve the American Dream. (Stream it on Peacock Premium or AMC)