Review: The Visitor

The Visitor (2007)
It has been a rare few weeks without a single movie watched. The start of a job will do that to you. My first return to my blissful comfort zone was The Visitor, by the director of The Station Agent. I am sure that does not register with a lot of you, but having seen his previous work I knew what to expect from this one.

The Visitor lived up to all my expectations. Like Thomas McCarthy's previous film, this Sundance hit is a wonderful little indie gem, full of surprising acting chops and highly relatable characters. In the end, that is really the strength of this film: the characters are wholly authentic. Every blink, every frown, every smile is as real as you can find in the movies today.

The plot follows an emotionally-detatched intellectual (Richard Jenkins) continously mourning the death of his wife. When he goes to his NYC apartment for a conference, he finds two illegal immigrants living there. Instead of freaking out, he invites them to stay.

I am sure you can guess the rest (emotional awakening! the value of connecting with people! the issue of immigration in post-9/11 USA! etc). The story is a bit clunky at times, and maybe a bit heavy-handed, but the individual characterizations are so refreshingly realistic that the heavy-hand is lightened by their easy nature.

The highlight of this film for me was when the two older characters found a companionship they had long stopped seeking out. This type of storyline is rarely played out right. Sometimes, as in Something's Gotta Give, it is just awkward. Oftentimes, it is cheesy, or ignored altogether. In The Visitor, the subtle connection is explored with the appropriate amount of reserve, respect, and care.

This movie is about the happy and sad surprises in our lives, and how inextricable they are from each other. Ultimately, life becomes just one long string of them. But, the moral of the story is that each of them shapes us. Hopefully, in the end, we can find a way to adapt to being happy.

And, it is so nice to watch a movie that is not populated exclusively by the Beautiful People Club™. Even indie films have gotten too beautiful lately.

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