The Visitor @ Kendall

The Station Agent is one of my favorite American releases from the past few years and I've been hoping director Tom McCarthy's next film might be equally as good. The Visitor appears to be an excellent follow-up.

The official screening time for this movie is 4:30.

Over the prolonged (!!!) winter we've been attending earlier screenings on afternoons- as Springtime should finally have sprung by May, this later event time will allow us to enjoy the day as well.

The Visitor USA 2007 103 min.

Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, 62-two-year-old Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) fills the void by trying to learn to play classical piano. Sent to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, the talented Tarek insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument's exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter's faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles. When Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friend with a passion he thought he had long ago lost. Kendall Description

A marvelous film, small in expense but big in stature. The New York Observer

Finally an effective, timely and enjoyable political melodrama that contests stereotypes and centers on culture collision between Americans and Muslims, with tour de force, Oscar-caliber turn from Richard Jenkins as the emotionally sheltered professor. As was evident in "The Station Agent," McCarthy the writer is attracted to misfists and outsiders, characters that, thrown into extraordinary conditions by fate or chance, embark on a journey of self-discovery, gaining in the process heightened political consciousness that enable them to establish rapport and form unlikely personal and communal bonds. Also like "Station Agent," "The Visitor" (an accurate but not particularly appealing title) is a poignant, often funny film about rediscovering joy in the most unexpected places. Emanuel Levy

Here is a link to a complete review: http://www.reel.com/m...

Hope to see you there,
Tom