'The Visitor' relies on character

By Steve Persall, Times Film Critic
In print: Thursday, May 8, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [Overture Films] Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins), left, can’t help but be moved when Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), right, teaches him about drums.

The Visitor (PG-13) (108 min.) — Writer-director Thomas McCarthy made an unlikely romantic hero of dwarf actor Peter Dinklage in The Station Agent. With his second movie, McCarthy tosses another remarkable casting curve, giving a respected character actor his first starring role.

Richard Jenkins is most easily identified as the dead father drolly counseling his survivors on HBO's Six Feet Under. Jenkins' movie career goes back to 1985's Silverado. His name in the credits ensures something in the movie will be good.

The Visitor is almost entirely Jenkins' movie. Widowed professor Walter Vale isn't flashy yet Jenkins finds something illuminating in each gesture and line phrasing. We witness the social development of one man in an era when the American melting pot dream is boiling over.

Walter is simply biding time until he joins his dead wife. He's taking piano lessons because she played, and half-heartedly writing a book so he can spend less time teaching his field, global relations. He is sent to New York to present a paper on the subject. Conveniently, Walter has an apartment there he hasn't used in years.

He arrives there to discover Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), from Syria, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), from Syria. The pair had been scammed into thinking they were renting the place. Walter makes them leave, then changes his mind.

Tarek is a world beat drummer, joining circles in Central Park and playing occasional paid gigs. Zainab operates a handmade jewelry table at a flea market. They're in the United States illegally but respect everything the country offers. Walter can't avoid being touched, especially when Tarek teaches him some drum techniques.

The Visitor takes a serious turn when Tarek is arrested due to a misunderstanding, sent to a detention center and readied for deportation. His mother (Hiam Abbass) and Zainab can't visit or else they'll face the same fate. Walter becomes the conduit between them.

McCarthy's simple plot and occasionally flawed narrative require actors who can make them believable. Jenkins and his co-stars always fit the bill. The Visitor doesn't hold many surprises except for its cumulative power and a final shot bringing everything full circle. This quiet movie speaks volumes about humanity, how Americans get blurry about it, and how foreigners' appreciation makes it clear again. B+

Steve Persall, Times film critic