The Visitor

This is the second feature written and directed by the actor Thomas McCarthy, the first being the excellent The Station Agent, which made Peter Dinklage into a much bigger (so to speak) star than he was before. Let’s hope it happens to the star of this one, Richard Jenkins. You probably don’t know his name—I didn’t, either—but you probably do know his face, as he’s been doing good work in movies and TV for over 30 years. (He was the ghost father in “Six Feet Under.”) He’s one of those absolutely reliable character actors that Hollywood couldn’t get along without. Click on some of his credits in the IMDb and you’ll see him listed, over and over, in third position, right behind the marquee names. This is pretty much his first lead role in a major motion picture, and he’s unlikely to get a lot more because he’s not glamorous, only very, very talented. In this one he’s an emotionally shut-down college professor, teaching one class while not writing a book. His wife was a piano virtuoso and about his last contact with any real feeling is trying to learn the piano, which he’s bad at. He goes to a conference in New York, where he’s had a seldom-used apartment (no doubt rent-controlled) for 25 years, and finds a couple staying in it. They are as surprised as he is, as they thought they were renting it. Turns out it was a scam, and they were the victims. Tarek is a drummer from Syria, Danai is a craftswoman from Senegal. They leave, full of apologies … but he obeys an impulse, follows them, and invites them to stay a night while they get themselves together. That stretches out … and little by little, they get to know each other and he begins to come out of his shell. He begins to learn drumming from Tarek, and he’s a bit better at that. At least he really seems to like it.

It’s a small, simple story, which takes a bit of a twist for a third act when Tarek is arrested and faced with deportation. His mother arrives from Detroit, and there is the possibility of romance. Like The Station Agent, this one relies on the acting to make you care about it, and all four principals are outstanding. We liked it a lot.