The Visitor film review

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THE VISITOR

Director Tom McCarthy's debut was the much-loved 2004 release The Station Agent, in which Peter Dinklage starred as the title character coming to terms with his solitude. Solitude also plays a part in McCarthy's latest film, which boasts an impressive central performance from Richard Jenkins.

Jenkins - a character actor probably best known over here for his role as the deceased father in the TV series Six Feet Under - plays Walter, a widowed professor of globalisation based in Connecticut whose job and indeed life offer him very few challenges. On a trip to his apartment in New York (where he is to give a paper) he discovers a young couple staying in his flat: he has been away for so long that it has been illegally sublet.

After some initial misunderstandings, Walter makes friends with the visitors - a Syrian man (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira). Soon Walter is learning to play the drums with his new flatmates and his life is beginning to turn around. But when the authorities intervene to question the residential status of the two foreigners, Walter's new-found happiness is threatened.

Although this may sound bleak, it isn't. McCarthy, who also authored the script, injects plenty of charm and black humour and the talented cast make it easy to watch. In particular Jenkins, who grabs his leading man debut by the throat and delivers a fascinating performance. He is given able support, especially by Haaz Sleiman as his erstwhile drumming buddy.

It's as much a dig at the new society America has created since 9/11 as a study of one character, and audiences looking for something satisfyingly different and thought-provoking will be well rewarded.

Paul Hurley