The Visitor (1 Viewer)

[Holadem]

Anyone seen this? The Visitor | Official Movie Site

I am throwing together an Indie meet up group in my neck of the woods and this seems like a decent candidate.

To be honest, I am a bit put-off by the saccharine schmaltz-fest vibe I am getting from the trailer, but reviews have been uniformly positive and it seems accessible enough for a first meet up screening.

(I am also hoping it’s not another In America, which I found vastly overrated -– I am in the minority, I know…)

Opinions?

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H

 

[Michael Reuben]

I agree the trailer is a little schmaltzy, but that's marketing for you. The film is no more schmaltzy than The Station Agent, Tom McCarthy's previous film. Like that film, The Visitor has a solitary, inward character at its center, and Richard Jenkins' simple and unfussy performance keeps the film true and honest.

Even though Jenkins will probably always be best known as Nate Sr. on Six Feet Under, he's got a long resume of character parts, and I've learned to expect something interesting whenever he shows up. This is his first leading role in a film, and McCarthy wrote the part specifically for him. He has a lot of scenes, especially in the first part of the film, where he doesn't say much, but he conveys much about the character just by the way he stands and moves and reacts (or doesn't) to things around him. The title refers as much to his character as it does to the immigrants he meets in NYC. He's playing a guy who's a visitor to his own life.

As with Under the Same Moon, which is just out on DVD, there's incidental observation (that's observation, not commentary) on the current situation of illegal immigrants in the U.S., but it isn't an issue film. It's a film about human souls who make unlikely connections and are irrevocably changed. It's been several months since I saw the film, and the final image has stayed with me. It made me smile, and not with schmaltz.

M.

 

[Holadem]

Thanks Michael. The The Station Agent connection is reassuring, loved that film.

Will post my impressions after my screening in a week or so (if the film is still around -- there is no way to know this far in advance .)

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[Michael Reuben]

Trivia note: Tom McCarthy's other major recent project was in front of the camera as an actor. He was the sleazy newspaper reporter inventing his stories on the final season of The Wire. Talk about a 180-degree change from his work as a writer-director!

M.

 

[Holadem]

Wow. I've developped such a deep loathing for that character, I might have to avoid this film altogether now

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[Henry Gale]

I've seen The Visitor twice and have been suggesting it to everyone.

I even bought the Fela Kuti CD that one character gifts to another.

It's a damn good disc!

 

[Holadem]

Fela is a musical legend. Soon after his death, I saw his son Femi Kuti in concert with his father's band at Central Park. Very emotional stuff.

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[Michael Reuben]

The Visitor is one of the few "small" films with any traction this year. It opened on April 13 and has been quietly chugging along ever since, even though it's never gone wide. Richard Roeper keeps mentioning it on At the Movies, which is a nice continuation of that show's long tradition of championing small films.

Holadem, on the schmaltz factor: After you've seen the film, take a minute to think about the changes that a studio machine would have forced on the script. I can think of several obvious ones, but I'm not going to list them, even in spoilers. Suffice it to say, there would have been some easy ways to up the schmaltz factor to In America territory (a film I liked, BTW). A different leading man might even have insisted on it. But McCarthy doesn't work that way, and neither does Jenkins.

You're going to love this film.

M.