Reviews

The Visitor

Unforgettable direction

By BRETT MICHEL | April 16, 2008

3.5 Stars

The Visitor

Sixty-two-year-old economics professor Walter Vale (former Trinity The VisRep actor and artistic director Richard Jenkins) is a ghost, haunting the shadows of his own life, only occasionally bringing a piano teacher (he’s on his fifth) into his Connecticut home, maintaining a tenuous connection to his late concert-pianist wife. Visiting Manhattan for a conference, he’s surprised to find a young couple living in the apartment he barely uses. Victims of a real-estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian musician, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere to go, so Walter allows them to stay, and Tarek begins teaching him the African drum. When his new friend is arrested as an illegal alien, he finally awakens from his slumber. A liberal fantasy? Perhaps, but writer/director Tom McCarthy, expanding on the theme of unexpected friendships that propelled 2003’s The Station Agent, is a subtle artist, and that trait extends to Jenkins –– a name you might not recognize but likely won’t forget. 108 minutes | Kendall Square + Embassy

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Topics: Reviews , Culture and Lifestyle, Relationships, Richard Jenkins, More

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[ 05/26 ] "A Natural Order," photographs by Lucas Foglia @ David Winton Bell Gallery

[ 05/26 ] George Orwell's 1984, adapted by Nick Lane @ Gamm Theatre

[ 05/26 ] "2012 RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition" @ Rhode Island Convention Center

ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL

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Filled with Indian (and British) clichés, it is nonetheless a pleasant diversion that doesn't involve special effects or 3D glasses.

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REVIEW: JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI | April 04, 2012
Eighty-five-year-old Jiro, with his unchanging expression and bald pate, resembles a wizened turtle. Leaving home at age 9 and forced to fend for himself, he would become the world's greatest sushi chef.