The Visitor (***)
Directed by: Thomas McCarthy
Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira, Hiam Abbass
Seen: October 18th 2009
*** Out of ****
The Visitor is one those small indie movies that flies just below the radar, and is missed by a lot of people who would be better off for seeing it. Richard Jenkins was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Walter Vale, an economics professor at a Connecticut college with good reason – his acting is superb, you know this man by the end of the film, the things that motivate him and those things that anger him become evident to both the viewer and Walter.
Walter Vale feigns a busy schedule by telling people that he is a college professor (he gives one class) busy writing his fourth book on his own time. He takes piano lessons, but does not have the natural talent, and in the movie we see him letting his fourth piano teacher go. His reasons for playing piano are presented rather tragically and very low-key in the movie as he eventually makes peace with his wife’s death. His college strong-arms him into going to New York to present a paper he co-authored (put his name on as a favour) as the author is on maternity leave.
Walter owns an apartment in New York, and walking through the door he realises things look just a little bit out of place and the flowers entirely too fresh. He walks through his apartment, hears something in the bathroom, and finds a woman relaxing in the bathtub. When she screams in surprise her boyfriend accosts Walter in the hallway where he is profusely apologising for disturbing the woman in the bathroom (in his apartment). The two turn out to be illegal immigrants renting the apartment from Ivan (whom Walter does not know): Tarek (Sleiman) a Sirian national, and Zainab (Gurira) from Senegal. They vacate the apartment almost immediately, but Walter finds them on the street a while later and invites them back into his home until they can find accommodation.
Along the way Tarek and Walter start building a friendship, while Zainab remains distant. Tarek teaches Walter to play the Jembi, an African drum, and Walter is completely immersed in the rhythms of the drum, eventually joining drumming circles with Tarek. One afternoon on the way home after a drumming session, as Walter and Tarek pass through subway gates, Tarek is arrested by seriously power-hungry NYPD officers, who lock him up in a prison of sorts – for illegal immigrants. Here Tarek is uncertain of what might happen to him on a daily basis, and Zainab cannot even visit him for fear of being arrested herself. So the two communicate through Walter, who visits Tarek daily, further growing their friendship. In this all Walter finds something to live for, a passion he never knew before – a true friend, and when Tarek’s mother Mouna (Abbass) comes to see what happened to Tarek, the two also connect in a very deep way, which stops short of the by now almost obligatory Hollywood romance, thankfully, since this makes their connection that much more potent.
Jenkins’ performance is beautiful, his manner of dealing with the intruders in his house, inviting them back in and starting out friendships with them, his fighting and rising passion for Tarek’s cause and the relationship that fountains between him and Mouna are honest and raw, adding a very authentic feel to this elegant little story that is both touching and involving. The Visitor might be modest, but it is also, in its own small way, monumental.
Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira, Hiam Abbass
Seen: October 18th 2009
*** Out of ****
The Visitor is one those small indie movies that flies just below the radar, and is missed by a lot of people who would be better off for seeing it. Richard Jenkins was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Walter Vale, an economics professor at a Connecticut college with good reason – his acting is superb, you know this man by the end of the film, the things that motivate him and those things that anger him become evident to both the viewer and Walter.
Walter Vale feigns a busy schedule by telling people that he is a college professor (he gives one class) busy writing his fourth book on his own time. He takes piano lessons, but does not have the natural talent, and in the movie we see him letting his fourth piano teacher go. His reasons for playing piano are presented rather tragically and very low-key in the movie as he eventually makes peace with his wife’s death. His college strong-arms him into going to New York to present a paper he co-authored (put his name on as a favour) as the author is on maternity leave.
Walter owns an apartment in New York, and walking through the door he realises things look just a little bit out of place and the flowers entirely too fresh. He walks through his apartment, hears something in the bathroom, and finds a woman relaxing in the bathtub. When she screams in surprise her boyfriend accosts Walter in the hallway where he is profusely apologising for disturbing the woman in the bathroom (in his apartment). The two turn out to be illegal immigrants renting the apartment from Ivan (whom Walter does not know): Tarek (Sleiman) a Sirian national, and Zainab (Gurira) from Senegal. They vacate the apartment almost immediately, but Walter finds them on the street a while later and invites them back into his home until they can find accommodation.
Along the way Tarek and Walter start building a friendship, while Zainab remains distant. Tarek teaches Walter to play the Jembi, an African drum, and Walter is completely immersed in the rhythms of the drum, eventually joining drumming circles with Tarek. One afternoon on the way home after a drumming session, as Walter and Tarek pass through subway gates, Tarek is arrested by seriously power-hungry NYPD officers, who lock him up in a prison of sorts – for illegal immigrants. Here Tarek is uncertain of what might happen to him on a daily basis, and Zainab cannot even visit him for fear of being arrested herself. So the two communicate through Walter, who visits Tarek daily, further growing their friendship. In this all Walter finds something to live for, a passion he never knew before – a true friend, and when Tarek’s mother Mouna (Abbass) comes to see what happened to Tarek, the two also connect in a very deep way, which stops short of the by now almost obligatory Hollywood romance, thankfully, since this makes their connection that much more potent.
Jenkins’ performance is beautiful, his manner of dealing with the intruders in his house, inviting them back in and starting out friendships with them, his fighting and rising passion for Tarek’s cause and the relationship that fountains between him and Mouna are honest and raw, adding a very authentic feel to this elegant little story that is both touching and involving. The Visitor might be modest, but it is also, in its own small way, monumental.
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