The Visitor

Prof. Walter Vale is old. Not in the actual sense, though. He lives, drives, and works in a perfectly functional way, and gravity hasn’t yet begun it’s unavoidable battle with his skin, but figuratively speaking, he is old. He teaches one course at a university in Connecticut, but never more than one because he says he has to work on a book–a book that he never thinks about. He takes piano lessons, but since he doesn’t make progress, he quits rather quickly. Life has taken quite a toll already on Walter, so he goes through life looking for a position with the least amount of responsibility.

Walter Vale (captured in a rapturous performance from Richard Jenkins) is the main character of Thomas McCarthy’s new film, The Visitor. The movie showcases Walter as he must travel to New York to present a paper which he co-authored (though he claims he didn’t write a word of it). The trip bums Walter out because he would much rather stay in Connecticut, teach his one course, and kick around in his large suburb home then make the taxing trek to New York City to talk about a paper he knows little about. But as his superiors explain, he really has no other choice.

Walter receives the surprise of a lifetime when he gets to his city apartment, and sees a young Muslim couple living there. Since the death of his wife, Walter has rarely visited the apartment, and in his absence, it seems somebody has rented his place to Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira). Walter is shocked, but allows the young couple to stay until they can find another residence. Walter takes to the young couple, particularly Tarek, as he teaches Walter to play the congo in the New York City parks.

Trouble begins, when Tarek is arrested in a subway station, for little to no reason. Walter doesn’t understand what is happening, but keeps his cool and issues a statement to the police, who tell him that Tarek will be released later in the day. It isn’t until Zainab tells him that they are actually illegal immigrants, and Tarek is moved to a immigration detention center, that Walter understands the gravity of the situation. Walter, deeply concerned for his new friend goes to great lengths to help, first hiring an immigration attorney, and later taking in Tarek’s worried mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass), to comfort her as they try to get Tarek free.

When trouble begins in the story, that’s precisely when trouble begins in the movie. The first third of the picture is an incredibly satisfying story about a very depressed man whose life is reinvigorated by an exciting young man who teaches him the beauty of small things. Once Tarek is behind bars, the story is confined to message film about the wrongdoings of immigration offices. Tarek is arrested for no reason, true, and it is incredibly unfair that a man who has made a life in a country can be swept out so quickly. That being said, it is this fixation that causes the movie to drag.

The hero of the picture is Richard Jenkins, who has what is easily his most creatively liberating performance. Walter is reserved, frustrated, yet so compassionate and is brimming with anticipation for the opportunity to discover his second wind. The supporting performances from Gurira and Abbass are good enough, and Sleiman is excellent in his limited screentime, but the film works as a showcase for Jenkins. He creates Walter with such subdued emotion, that it makes it that much more frustrating that more of the film isn’t fixated on his character.

Much like Thomas McCarthy’s first film, The Station Agent, we have a film that is focused on a character that believes that his circumstances should prevent him from having fun. In Agent, we have a naturally introverted little person, and with Visitor, we have a man still visibly mourning the death of his wife. But with his earlier film, McCarthy explores that character, explaining why he is who he is. This film, though expertly shot, falls flat as a character study. The more we want to learn about Walter’s demeanor, the more we are unwillingly told about the horrors of immigration.

Not that I want or expect McCarthy to make the same film over again, it’s just that the direction in which he chose to send his latest film isn’t very interesting. A career performance by Jenkins is almost enough to make this film a treat, because it is always fun to watch an actor everyone knows (but not by name) finally get his break as a true film lead. The Visitor is a film that is meant to be an experience, a film to spark debate about the politics it tackles through out the story. Instead, it sparks debate as to why a film would take such a puzzling turn in order to make a statement.

 

Written and Directed by Tom McCarthy