The Visitor

Yes, that is Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, the stalwart character actor with over 50 film credits but nary a starting role until this one, being taught to play a congo drum and poof--he’s no longer depressed about his dead-end academic career and widower status. In its story of a lifeless, middle-aged, white economics professor reinvigorated by an encounter with a pair of charming, attractive African illegals who happen to be squatting in his apartment and are facing deportation, Tom McCarthy’s new film, an even bigger fest circuit success than his indie hit The Station Agent, has more than its share of terrific performances.

But the prioritization of eastern liberal rebirth over the cost of expatriation seems like a cop-out and an excuse to pander to his intended audience, which probably looks and sounds a lot like the star, character actor Richard Jenkins. Yet Haaz Sleiman and Hiam Abbass, both terrific as the Syrian son and mother trapped in a byzantine, wholly unfair immigration system, aren’t really given the time of day in the third act, but I think the story of their repatriation to Syria may have proven far more interesting than what McCarthy & Co. chose to represent.

                                                              Brandon Harris