The Visitor (2008)

Crazy rhythms

If Richard Jenkins doesn't get an Oscar nod for his amazing performance in Thomas McCarthy's new comedy-drama, The Visitor, I will personally picket the Academy. Writer-director-actor McCarthy's previous effort was the critical favorite The Station Agent, and once again he draws us into an extended family of very believable, warm-blooded characters, generously giving all of his actors plenty of room to breathe.

Jenkins absolutely inhabits the character of the life-tired, middle-aged widower Walter Vale. He is a Connecticut college professor leading a life of quiet desperation; he sleepwalks through his dreary workday, and it's obvious that any inspirational spark is long gone from an unwavering lesson plan that is more aged than his students. His personal life has become rote as well; most of his leisure time is spent puttering, and half-heartedly plunking away on his late wife's piano. In the film's wonderfully played opening scene, Walter fires his private piano teacher, who turns out to be the fourth in a row that he has dismissed. As a parting shot, she suggests that if he should decide that mastering the keyboard is just not his forte, especially "at his age", she would be most interested in buying his "wife's" piano (ouch). Clearly, Walter needs to get out more.

When Walter travels to New York to attend a conference and present a paper, he has a big surprise awaiting him at the seldom-used apartment he keeps in the city. Unbeknownst to the professor, a mysterious third party has sublet his digs to an immigrant couple-a Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend, Zainab (Danai Gurira). After some tense moments between the mutually startled parties, the forlorn Walter invites them to stay rather than turning them out on the street. As a friendship slowly grows between the three, Walter begins to emerge from his cocoon, prompted by Tarek's infectious enthusiasm for pounding out joyful rhythms on his African djembes. Before he knows it, the staid professor is loosening his tie and joining Tarek in a drum circle at a public park. When Tarek is arrested by undercover cops in the subway due to a misunderstanding and ends up at a detention center for illegal immigrants, Walter hires a lawyer and becomes even more ensconced in the couple's lives. Add one more unexpected "visitor" to the mix-Tarek's widowed mother Mouna (the lovely and stately Israeli actress Hiam Abbass) who has traveled from Detroit to investigate why her son hasn't contacted her for an alarming period of time. Now, all the elements of a "perfect storm" are in place for the reawakening of Walter Vale.

Thanks to Jenkins' subtle, quietly compelling performance, that transformation is the heart of the film, and an absolute joy to behold. Although he has over 70 films to his credit (mostly supporting roles, but always memorable), he is probably most recognizable for his portrayal of the "late" father in HBO's popular series, Six Feet Under. Hiam Abbass is a revelation here as well; she and Jenkins play off each other in sublime fashion in all of their scenes together. In fact, no one in the cast hits a false note, ever. This is undoubtedly due in large part to the fact that McCarthy is an "actor's director" in the literal sense; he remains active in tackling roles himself (most recently appearing in HBO's final season of The Wire as a newspaper journalist who manufactures his stories).

The "strange bedfellows" setup of the plot may look like The Goodbye Girl or The Odd Couple on paper, but this not a glib Neil Simon play, where characters throw perfectly timed zingers at each other; these people feel, and interact, like real human beings. There is plenty of humor, but there is also genuine heartbreak and bittersweet melancholy. The important thing is that it is all perfectly balanced, and beautifully nuanced.

Although the circumstances leading up to Tarek's unfortunate detention could be viewed as an allusion to the sometimes Kafkaesque scenarios faced by illegal immigrants in a post 9-11 world, McCarthy doesn't get preachy on this particular issue or use his film as a polemic.

One thing I will say-if the overwrought and vastly overrated Crash (2005) could win Best Picture, then surely The Visitor, which deals with many of the same themes, and in a less histrionic and more palatable manner, deserves consideration as well (we shall see). In the meantime, you don't want to miss this lovely little gem.
October 7, 2008

This Is What Independent Filmaking Is All About

Ever so often an independent film materializes amidst the glitz and glamour of Hollywoods zillion dollar budgets that reminds us just how thought provoking and touching films can be. With characters well written and fleshed out, as well as realistic scenarious that force us to question how we'd react if placed in similar circumstances, the Visitor is a tour de force of American independent filmaking. Director Tod mcCarthy takes a hot button subject , and puts faces to those thousands of individuals living here illegaly, some of who just happen to be good people trying to enjoy the American Dream like everyone else. I'm usually pretty stoic when it comes to tearjerker movies, but it is without shame that i admit I cried like a baby during one particular scene( the airport farwell). The transformation of the lead character from an emotionally detached pedagogue to a comforter/ righteously indignant champion of Tariq's plight was also deeply moving..

Overall i'd have to say that in the zenophobic, post 911 society we live in today, it's refreshing to see movies like "The Visitor" eschew media stereotypes and prejudices and show us the "real people" and back stories of individuals who live in this country illegally. September 22, 2008

A Treasure

This is an exquisitely done movie. The story grabs you and pulls you into the lives of it's main characters so well that you almost wish you knew them in real life.

I loved this movie. But it bothered me that I.C.E. was shown as a villain because it is not. Immigration laws are in place in the US for an important reason, just like in every other country. Even Mexico has zero tolerance for illegal immigrants, but they encourage their own to come here and break our laws as illegal immigrants.

The perspective of this movie is one you don't get to see very often unless you have been through the experience of being an illegal immigrant. I really appreciated being able to better understand that situation, but I still support our country's laws. Without our laws, we would not be America.

September 21, 2008

Compelling, Sad and Uplifting

What a marvellous revelation of a film! This film has so much to offer. It is at times captivating, at other times sad, but always compelling. This film should be seen by a wider audience than the art house market.

If "The Visitor" does nothing else, it raises to the light the issue of illegal immigration. In this post 11 September world, the fate of illegal immigrants is much more tenuous. Indeed, this applies not just in America but the entire western world where newly arrived foreigners are viewed with suspicion. The fact that immigrants add value and pay taxes is too easily forgotten as we revert to positions of hostile disengagement.

"The Visitor" centres around a detached and bored economics professor from Connecticut who visits Manhattan where he owns an apartment. Upon arrival, he discovers that the apartment is occupied by a young couple. The man is from Syria and the woman is from Senegal. They are initially hostile to one another but within a short time come to trust one another. Unfortunately, the young man (Tarek) is detained by immigration authorities. His mother arrives to help him and, as this process takes place, a warmth develops between the professor and the mother. This is a film where characters develop slowly but their true emotions shine.

The plot to "The Visitor" is slim. Rather, it is a character study of very plausible people. All the main characters are warm and giving people. If there is a dark side to the film it is in the characters of the various government bureaucrats. These people are portrayed as clinical and uncaring. In a subtle way, the film is a critique of modern fears of different people. Its ending is sad. It is,nonetheless a terrific film. Go see it!
September 14, 2008

A truly wonderful film

A description of the plot can in no way convey the feeling of this movie and so I will not attempt a summary.
Where the movie hits home is directly in the heart. And so laughter and tears permeate throughout. It is not one story, but many brought together, wonderfully intertwined and connected life experiences that most will strongly relate to. While raising hope, the movie provides no easy answers. It certainly does not provide the typical Hollywood ending. Is the ending happy or unhappy? Different viewers will provide different answers.
Definitely one of my all-time favourite movies. August 29, 2008

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