| The Visitor | 
 enlarge | Director: Tom Mccarthy
Actors: Richard Jenkins, Hazz Sleiman, Hiam Abbas
Studio: ANCHOR BAY
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $8.05
You Save: $21.93 (73%)
New (49) Used (20) Collectible (1) from $6.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  81 reviews
Sales Rank: 1034
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Hifi Sound, Surround Sound, Thx, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 104
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: ANBD80008D
UPC: 013138000897
EAN: 0013138000897
ASIN: B0015OKWKI
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Walter is a disaffected college professor who has been drifting aimlessly through his life. When in a chance encounter to nyc walter discovers a couple has taken up residence in his apartment in the city he develops an unexpected & profound connection that will change his life forever. Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 10/07/2008 Starring: Richard Jenkins Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13
Amazon.com
A deeply moving drama built around longtime character actor Richard Jenkins, The Visitor is a simmering drama about a college professor and recent widower, Walter Vale (Jenkins), who discovers a pair of homeless, illegal aliens living in his New York apartment. After the mix-up is resolved, Vale invites the couple--a young, Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira--to stay with him. An unlikely friendship develops between the retiring, quiet Vale and the vital Tarek, and the former begins to loosen up and respond to Tarek's drumming lessons as if something in him waiting to be liberated has finally arrived. All goes well until Tarek is hauled in by immigration authorities and threatened with deportation. His mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), turns up and stays with Vale, sparking a renewed if subdued interest in courtship. But the wheels of injustice in immigration crush all manner of hopes in post-9/11 America. Vale soon realizes his unexpected capacity for anger over Tarek's plight, and the positive changes to his personal life that emerged from a deep involvement with his friend and Mouna, might be the only legacy he takes from this experience. Writer-director Thomas McCarthy has created a wonderfully measured story about change and renewal, and put it all on the shoulders of Jenkins, a largely unheralded but masterful performer whose time for renown has surely come. --Tom Keogh
Stills from The Visitor (click for larger image) Beyond The Visitor 
On Blu-ray | 
Soundtrack CD | 
Also directed by Tom McCarthy |
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 76 more reviews...
 Beautiful, bittersweet movie November 29, 2008
Richard Jenkins masterfully plays the part of Professor Walter Vale, a man whose life has become totally empty since his wife died. He goes through the motions of teaching and writing, but inside he is an empty shell. He is asked to go to New York to present a paper which he supposedly co-wrote so he goes to his apartment there and is shocked to find it inhabited by two people he doesn't know. Tricked by an unscrupulous realtor, Tarek from Syria and Zainab from Senegal think that they have legally rented the apartment. They agree to leave, but Walter offers to let them stay there until they can find another place. Tarek and Walter strike up a friendship which centers on Tarek teaching Walter to play the drums. Just as the friendship deepens, the Immigration Department rears its ugly head and suddenly things become very complicated. This is a beautiful film, sensitively written and acted, and one which will stay with the viewer for a long time.
Love November 28, 2008
I loved this movie. Watched it twice within 24 hours. It does deserve a good sound system and well set up television. The experience is so much better to hear those drums, and a gorgeous soundtrack.
To me, the politics took a back seat to the story about loss, recovery, finding a new life, and love. The best part of this film, the ending takes everyone by surprise. It's so perfect. It's so real life.
This was a delicate, perfectly paced film. It moved at a deliberate pace, but never once asked for a fast forward.
I'm sorry for those that can only see the politics in this film. If it were a treatise on immigration, the film would have taken a completely different approach. The fact that we see nothing of the interior of the detention center, no deep description of how Tarek is treated, no rounding up of illegal aliens.... No this film is about love and relationships.
The best part, this is a PG-13 rated film, and is absolutely a family film.
Good movie November 27, 2008
This was a very sweet story, well told and well acted. Very positive message.
 Such good people in bad situations November 26, 2008
Walter Vale is a widowed college professor who lives in Connecticut. It's been ages since he's visited the apartment he keeps in Manhattan. Imagine his surprise upon--returning to New York for an academic conference--he finds a young, foreign couple living in his flat. After a few tense moments that may burst into violence, things calm down, and it becomes clear that Takek and Zaineb have been rented the vacant apartment by a third party under false pretences. They don't want any trouble, and agree to leave immediately.
Quickly enough, the good-hearted Walter feels badly about throwing them out on the street. He chases them down and invites them to come back for a few days until they can find a place to stay. So begins a friendship and a relationship that may change the lives of all involved.
Zainab is Senegalese and reserved. Tarek, on the other hand is Syrian, outgoing, and always ready with a smile. He is a professional drummer, and he and Walter discover an affinity for percussion. There is more to Walter than his button-down exterior. After a lesson in Central Park, Walter and Takek are returning home when a minor misunderstanding leads to Tarek's arrest. Back at the apartment Zainab informs him that No, everything will not be alright, because she and Tarek are illegal aliens.
I don't want to tell much more, because the pleasure in any story is seeing how it unfolds. This is a difficult story with political undertones, one that is surely being acted out every day in America. The other pleasure of this story is the uniformly excellent performances by all the principles, from the newcomers who play Zainab and Tarek, to veteran Richard Jenkins who embodies Walter. I actually don't believe that Jenkins is capable of giving a bad performance.
I can't say that this was a flawlewss film, but with so many bad films out there, I think this one is well worth your time. It's interesting, features characters you grow to really care about, and your eyes may even be opened a bit to some of the realities of immigration.
The Visitor - 2008's Oscar Dark Horse November 25, 2008
Long time character actor and supporting player Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) finally gets his due starring vehicle in this quiet, touching, and powerful story of college profession(Jenkins) whose life has become stagnant in the wake of his wife's relatively early death. When he is reluctantly sent to NYC to speak in lieau of one of his colleagues, he enters his apartment there only to discover that it has been illegally sublet to a married couple by one of his neighbors. It's in these early awkward moments of the film that the ice around his heart begins to thaw and their ensuing friendship, trust, and to some degree dependency on one another changes all lives around the epicenter of this new relationship. Jenkins' performance the stuff of catnip to Academy voters and he will likely be remembered come January 2009, though the film's quiet journey will by no means garner the sort of attention or buzz of such worthy competitors such as 'Doubt' or 'Milk'. Still, award or no, the real winner is the viewer who takes this very personal and touching journey within the realm of the movie. Not all movie-transformations take place on screen.
|
|
|
