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The Visitor

  • 2007
  • PG-13
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
45K
YOUR RATING
Richard Jenkins and Danai Gurira in The Visitor (2007)
Theatrical Trailer from Overture Films
Play trailer2:28
1 Video
75 Photos
Drama

A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.

  • Director
    • Tom McCarthy
  • Writer
    • Tom McCarthy
  • Stars
    • Richard Jenkins
    • Haaz Sleiman
    • Danai Gurira
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    45K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Tom McCarthy
    • Writer
      • Tom McCarthy
    • Stars
      • Richard Jenkins
      • Haaz Sleiman
      • Danai Gurira
    • 176User reviews
    • 237Critic reviews
    • 79Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 19 wins & 35 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Visitor
    Trailer 2:28
    The Visitor

    Photos75

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    Top cast29

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    Richard Jenkins
    Richard Jenkins
    • Walter
    Haaz Sleiman
    Haaz Sleiman
    • Tarek
    Danai Gurira
    Danai Gurira
    • Zainab
    Hiam Abbass
    Hiam Abbass
    • Mouna
    Marian Seldes
    Marian Seldes
    • Barbara
    Maggie Moore
    • Karen
    Michael Cumpsty
    Michael Cumpsty
    • Charles
    Bill McHenry
    • Darin
    Richard Kind
    Richard Kind
    • Jacob
    Tzahi Moskovitz
    Tzahi Moskovitz
    • Zev
    Amir Arison
    Amir Arison
    • Mr. Shah
    Neal Lerner
    Neal Lerner
    • Martin Revere
    Ramon Fernandez
    Ramon Fernandez
    • Cop #1
    Frank Pando
    Frank Pando
    • Cop #2
    Waleed Zuaiter
    Waleed Zuaiter
    • Omar
    Deborah Rush
    Deborah Rush
    • Upper Eastside Woman
    Ashley Springer
    Ashley Springer
    • Student
    Laith Nakli
    Laith Nakli
    • Nasim
    • Director
      • Tom McCarthy
    • Writer
      • Tom McCarthy
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews176

    7.645.4K
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    Featured reviews

    Benedict_Cumberbatch

    Beautiful film, with a mesmerizing performance by Richard Jenkins

    Thomas McCarthy's follow-up to the enchanting "The Station Agent" (2003) is another contemplative drama filled with subtle humor and a lot of humanity/passion for its characters. Walter (Richard Jenkins, "Six Feet Under") is a widowed college professor that meets two illegal immigrants - a Senegalese woman (Danai Gurira) and a Syrian man, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) -, living in his apartment in NYC. After the initial discomfort of the situation, Walter decides to help the young couple and an unlikely friendship is born.

    "The Visitor" deals with human relationships and discusses post-9/11 America socio-political issues (the plight of immigrants, xenophobia, etc.) with no hidden agendas. McCarthy has proved himself as a sensitive director/writer, and he extracts a magnificent performance from Richard Jenkins, a character actor who gets his first leading role at the age of 60. Jenkins is fascinating to watch as an ordinary man trying to find himself; he gives one of the best male performances of the decade and I'd love if he got at least an Oscar nomination, since I can see him remaining in my top 5 by the end of the year, perhaps still as my favourite. I know that the movie's small indie weight and the fact that it was released early in the year will probably hurt his chances (the Independent Spirit Award could be his biggest reward), but if it's strongly campaigned, it might get a nod à la "The Savages" (even though I know he's not half big a name as Laura Linney). Anyway, I hope he gets some sort of recognition - he'll also be seen later this year in the Coens' "Burn After Reading". If you like human dramas, sensitive writing/directing and superb acting, you should check "The Visitor" - the finest 2008 release I've seen so far. 10/10.
    10marc-262

    You know a movie is good when you don't want it to end.

    I saw this film at Sundance (along with about twenty others). It was the only film I screened that ended with a standing ovation. The accolade was well-deserved. Richard Jenkins completely inhabits the professor, Walter Vale, unmoored by the death of his wife. Drifting, without purpose, grinding through his days, he thinks his life is over -- he is just taking up space. But when that space is invaded by a vibrant couple, Walter has an epiphany.

    Richard Jenkins is not the only actor of note in this cast. Everyone is pitch-perfect. But particularly be on the lookout for Hiam Abbass. Every time she is on the screen is a delight. This is one of those rare films that you really do not want to end.

    It would be easy to pigeon-hole this film as a topical drama dealing with an uncaring government system. But this film transcends all that. Instead it is a heartfelt film about what happens when people -- with all their desires and difficulties -- bump into one another to express the best part of their humanity. If this is the kind of movie you would like to see made more frequently in Hollywood, vote with your wallet this weekend, then go again and take some friends.
    9laraemeadows

    The Visitor

    The Visitor strings together unlikely events in the lives of a professor and his visitors. Remarkably sincere and touching, the unimaginable events feel natural.

    Awkward Connecticut economics professor Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) has essentially checked out from his job, his personality and his life. Walter is forced by circumstance to return to his abandoned New York City apartment. When he returns he meets Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Jekesai Gurira), who have taken up unauthorized residence in his apartment. Tarek and Zainab teach Walter to live again, to come out of his shell and remind him how unfair life can be.

    Writer and director Thomas McCarthy wrote all of the characters in The Visitor with almost contradictory personality attributes which gives them each a complex humanity.

    McCarthy wrote Walter Vale painfully dull and bumbling but it was Richard Jenkins who also makes Walter charming and heart breaking. In nearly every setting, Jenkins both makes the audience scrunch their faces at Walter's social inadequacies while simultaneously bringing out our Florence Nightingale instincts. As Walter changes in the course The Visitor, Jenkins keeps the essential qualities of Walter but changes him in surprising ways.

    The supporting cast isn't any less remarkable in The Visitor. There is a master of life, a vision of unabashed sadness and an embodiment of sensual motherly warmth. Haaz Sleiman, who plays Tarek, is (damn foxy) full of life as Tarek. His esprit fills Tarek, the audience, the other characters and actors with such vitality. Danai Jekesai Guria plays Zainab, Tarek's girlfriend. So much of Zainab is forlorn despondent dejection. Rich with beautiful hardness and unnaturally attractive pain, Danai Jekesai Guria made Zainab so hard to watch but impossible to pull your eyes away from. Hiam Abbass plays Mouna, Tarek's mother. Her fear is palpable but she never loses her intangible sensuality.

    The most remarkable part of The Visitor is the way it organically shows the way life can change un-expectantly, unfairly and without warning and does it with real, raw emotion. Just when you think you've figured out what the movie is about, you slapped with a new reality. It is frightening, timely and angering. Even the ending, which is not the typical movie ending, is emotive in a subtle and realistic way. I was not overwhelmed or underwhelmed by the movie, I was perfectly whelmed; a task indeed.

    The pacing is the one complaint I have with The Visitor. The editing could have been much better. There are beautiful scenes sometimes drawn out to boredom. Scenes that were the actors' timing is slightly off are only highlighted by the shoddy editing. The Visitor is an artsy movie but Tom McArdle checked out completely in a few of the scenes.

    Slow bits aside, The Visitor is a rewarding film with rich characters, beautiful acting and complexities that might make those people who are quick to tears, cry.
    7l_whitmore

    From a rich exploration of character, to a slightly ill-conceived issue-based drama.

    Richard Jenkins' portrayal of lacklustre professor Walter is beautifully underplayed, somnambulistically acting out the various roles of his life as a stilted economics professor. The beginning scenes unravel artfully and launch into the story where Walter is abruptly introduced to the young couple (Tarek and Zainab).

    The ensuing impromptu friendship that develops is well conceived. The wariness and strong-will of Zainab contrasts well against her boyfriend Tarek's more forthright relaxed nature. The interplay between Tarek, Zainab and Walter is at times awkward, at times touching. I felt that these quality performances go a long way towards forgiving the unlikely set of circumstances (and responses) that brought and kept the three characters together.

    I thought the scenes where Walter learns to play the djembe were beautifully played; Walter's awkward but curious initiation to drumming and the (unexpected) expression of pure joy on his face while playing added believable depth to an otherwise restrained and austere performance.

    Walter's exposure to the djembe perhaps underpins the films well-intentioned message – that our lives are enriched by living side-by side with other cultures. Good intentions aside, I think the second half of the film suffers because of the filmmaker's heavy-handed desire to go further and promote the idea that 'good people suffer in the hands of US immigration control'.

    In my opinion producing a film with any agenda is problematic because it requires a degree of rationalisation and simplification which works against interesting characterisation. Life is very rarely straightforward – and when it is straightforward, it isn't interesting to watch.

    In the case of the second half of The Visitor, I felt that this overarching requirement to show the characters in a positive light removed any sense of conflict the characters might have otherwise possessed. The story no longer had a life of it's own – and seemed to involve reaching a predetermined conclusion through any route possible.

    The character of Tarek's (caring / strong / dignified) mother, fell short of the high-expectations that I'd built-up during the first half of the film. I felt her portrayal was lacking – and I didn't fully understand the function her character played. The subsequent relationship that develops between Walter and Mouna seemed gratuitous and left too many questions unanswered.

    After watching this and Tom McCarthy's first film (The Station Agent), it's clear to me that McCarthy is an accomplished director / writer - who perhaps excels at directing character-based stories. I think this film suffers because halfway through the film McCarthy attempts to move focus from a rich exploration of character, to a slightly ill-conceived issue-based drama.

    Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Visitor.
    adamshl

    Small Comments

    Mr. McCarthy's film seems to be working at several levels, a main one being the character development of Walter Vale, and another the effects of blind bureaucracy upon the human spirit.

    It was interesting to see Vale's callous attitude toward one of his students early on when the lad was late turning in a class paper. The student's reason: some serious personal issues. Did the professor show any extra understanding or compassion for the young man? No; the paper was late and therefore simply unacceptable.

    Yet when Vale wanted information and understanding later on at the immigration department when making inquiry about the deportation of Tarek Kahlel, what did he do but blatantly rant about how insensitive and unimpassioned was the system. This, after he'd previously witnessed a similar situation at the front desk with another frustrated inquirer.

    What's the country to do, having immigration regulations in place: excuse and make special exceptions for certain illegal aliens? As Vale showed no interest in learning about his student's situation, he yet expected the immigration department to bend to his personal demands.

    Vale was certainly a pathetic prof, drifting through life without energy or passion. His encounter with Tarek and his wife and mother all seemed rather arbitrary, allowing these relationships to become his interest, for lack of a better direction. Personally, I felt sorry for this glum character, yet mindful that the death of a spouse can cause some derailment in direction.

    The cast was uniformly fine, with special kudos to Richard Jenkins and Haaz Sleiman.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      For The Visitor (2007), Tom McCarthy won the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for Best Director, while Richard Jenkins was nominated for Best Actor at the 81st Academy Awards®.
    • Goofs
      In New York airport, the flight was announced as "flight to Syria", although it should actually name the airport (Damascus), not the country. But more importantly, there is no direct non-stop flight from New York to Syria.
    • Quotes

      Prof. Walter Vale: We are not helpless children!

    • Crazy credits
      Baldwin's L2 grand piano
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: 88 Minutes/The Life Before Her Eyes/Forgetting Sarah Marshall/The Forbidden Kingdom/Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?/The Visitor (2008)
    • Soundtracks
      Salsera
      Written by La Palabra (as Palabra)

      Performed by Orquestra La Palabra

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    FAQ22

    • How long is The Visitor?Powered by Alexa
    • Is 'The Visitor' based on a book?
    • Once deported, can a person ever get back into the United States legally?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 23, 2008 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
      • Arabic
      • Romanian
    • Also known as
      • Du Khách
    • Filming locations
      • East Village Wines, East Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Groundswell Productions
      • Next Wednesday Productions
      • Participant
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $4,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $9,443,451
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $86,488
      • Apr 13, 2008
    • Gross worldwide
      • $18,213,880
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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