McCarthy (The Station Agent) is back with another humanist drama set among a mix of characters who might not ordinarily interact. Curiously, The Visitor is both predictable and unpredictable. Jenkins, a busy character actor, is uncharacteristically cast in the lead as Walter Vale, a gift that he capitalizes on fully. His performance and the film are studies in understatement, communicating often through the absence of words or actions. We may think we know where this is going: A hard-hearted economics prof reclaims his soul through his interaction with illegal immigrants (Sleiman, Gurira, and Abbass) who are full of life and artful enterprise. Well, yes and no. Change occurs, but not necessarily in the ways you might expect. McCarthy's approach is much truer to life, in which people enter and depart another's personal orbit without causing earth-shattering alterations in behavior or relationships. By definition, that means that not much occurs in The Visitor, yet it is never uninteresting to watch.
Opened 04/25/08