| Product Summary | | Publisher: STARZ/SPHE | | Format: Blu-Ray DVD | | UPC: 00013138304582 | | Buy.com Sku: 208648944 | | Item#: V2RQEQ | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 23563 | | Category Keywords: Theatrical Release | Rating:  |
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| | | From the Director of The Station Agent. From the Producer of Sideways.
Hailed as "one of the year's most intriguing dramas" (Claudia Puig, USA Today), The Visitor stars Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) in a "perfect performance" (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly) as Walter, a disaffected college professor who has been drifting aimlessly through his life.When, in a chance encounter on a trip into New York, Walter discovers a couple has taken up residence in his apartment in the city, he develops an unexpected and profound connection to them that will change his life forever. As challenges arise for his tenants Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira), Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friends, and rediscovers a passion he thought he had lost long ago. Written and directed by Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent), internationally-renowned Hiam Abbass (Munich) co-stars in "the year's first genuine must-see film" (Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post) about rediscovering life's rhythms in the most unexpected places.
"You can't help but be uplifted." Claudia Puig, USA Today
"A compelling and illuminating story of four people who form an unlikely and momentary friendship of considerable depth." Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
"Brilliant and nuanced performances." Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight
"...turns Richard Jenkins, one of the best character actors in the business, into a full-fledged star." Lou Lumenick, New York Post
"A heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you. Oscar, take note." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"Moving, humane and life-affirming." Rex Reed, The New York Observer
"Eloquent and unassuming, it's a picture that hits home precisely because it doesn't overreach its grasp." Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
Editor's Note
Fans of actor-director Tom McCarthy's highly praised debut, THE STATION AGENT, will not be disappointed by his second film, a gentle drama about illegal immigration. At 62, Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is sleepwalking through his quiet life as an economics professor in Connecticut. A conference for work forces him to return to New York City, where he finds something unexpected in his nearly forgotten Manhattan apartment: a pair of illegal immigrants is renting his place from a dishonest man, and they're just as shocked by his presence as he is by theirs. But Walter's kindness prevails, and he allows Syrian immigrant Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese love Zainab (Danai Gurira) to stay. Tarek and Walter form an unlikely bond over Tarek's talent for playing the djembe drum, and soon Walter is spending his spare time with the couple. When Tarek is unjustly arrested, deportation hangs over the young man's head and Walter is determined to help. The arrival of Tarek's mother (Hiam Abbass) adds another element to the trouble, but she provides unexpected companionship for Walter as he crusades for her son's freedom. THE STATION AGENT was a pleasant surprise for everyone who saw it, and while THE VISITOR revisits some of the same themes (particularly loneliness), it doesn't feel like a retread. In his first two films as writer and director, McCarthy has displayed an impressive touch with both quietly funny dialogue and complex characters. All the actors deserve credit for their emotional performances, but Jenkins adeptly carries the film on his shoulders. Until THE VISITOR, he has been a prolific character actor, perhaps most recognizable as the dearly departed dad on SIX FEET UNDER. But as magnetic as he has been in small roles, the depth of his talent becomes even more obvious in this remarkable lead performance.
| Features | Audio Commentary Featuring Director Tom McCarthy & Actor Richard Jenkins | | Audio: English PCM 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Deleted Scenes | | Featurettes: An Inside Look At The Visitor & Playing The Djembe | | Interactive Menus | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: STARZ/SPHE |
| Release Date: 10/7/2008 |
| Running Time: 108 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2008 | | Catalog ID: 3045 | | UPC: 00013138304582 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Haaz Sleiman, Nominee, Best Supporting Male | |
Oscar (2009) | | | Richard Jenkins, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | |
Screen Actors Guild (2009) | | | Richard Jenkins, Nominee, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role | |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Richard Jenkins, Nominee, Best Male Lead | |
Image Award (2009) | | | The Visitor, Nominee, Outstanding Independent Motion Picture | |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Thomas McCarthy, Nominee, Best Director |
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[O]ne of the years' most intriguing dramas, with a quartet of powerful performances....THE VISITOR connects on an emotional, rather than simply rhetorical, level." 04/11/2008Los Angeles Times
"[A]n unassuming but quietly heartbreaking drama about the unexpected bonds that can form in a city like New York, and their depth and fragility in times of hysteria." 04/11/2008 New York Times
"The curious thing about THE VISITOR is that even as it goes more or less where you think it will, it still manages to surprise you along the way." 04/11/2008 Entertainment Weekly
"This audaciously issues-loaded indie drama works, improbably and entirely, on account of the marvelous, often familiar-looking, rarely starring character actor Richard Jenkins and his perfect performance..." -- Grade: B 04/18/2008 p.46 Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "THE VISITOR, featuring the magnificent Richard Jenkins as the prof, is a heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you." 06/26/2008 p.81 Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "McCarthy makes a serious point about immigration without losing his lightness of touch, and he's assisted by terrific turns by Jenkins and Sleiman." 07/01/2008 p.56 Sight and Sound
"[A]s a portrait of a man rediscovering life, it's subtle, tender and very funny." 07/01/2008 p.81 Rolling Stone
Ranked #7 in Rolling Stone's 'Movies Of The Year' -- "[With] a career performance from Richard Jenkins..." 01/08/2008 p.116 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his US indie is an impeccably liberal post-9/11 drama....THE VISITOR sees veteran character actor Jenkins deliver a satisyfingly restrained central turn." 02/20/2009 ReelViews 8 of 10
It's a pleasant thing to encounter occasionally a movie in which people are portrayed as decent (if flawed) individuals. In The Visitor, there are no human villains. No one wears a black hat. The antagonist is The System - the nameless, faceless arm of a bureaucracy that flexes its muscles and crushes whoever happens to be in its grip at the time. In this case, it's the Immigration Department, but it might be any of thousands of government and private organizations where the "human element" has been eliminated in favor of procedures. However, while the struggle against The System forms an important aspect of The Visitor, this is much more about the growth of one man who discovers that the island of solitude is a cold and lonely place...We all know Richard Jenkins even if we don't recognize the name. He's a character actor who has appeared in supporting roles with increasing regularity since the early '80s. The Visitor, written and directed by The Station Agent's Thomas McCarthy, gives Jenkins a rare lead part and he brings to it a mixture of pathos and wit. The chief pleasure of The Visitor is in watching Jenkins' character, Walter Vale, grow. Jenkins never overplays the role, opting for a low-key approach that makes the one scene where Walter boils over all the more effective. A lot of heart goes into the performance; when Walter encounters something that gives him a brief flurry of happiness, we smile with him...The Visitor might easily be called The Awakening of Walter Vale...The Visitor ends on an ambiguous, bittersweet note, but the last scene offers a portrait that is tinged more with hope than sadness. This is a simple story of human drama that provides an incentive to spend a couple of hours in a movie theater during a spring that has not provided many such reasons. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Richard Jenkins is an actor who can move his head half an inch and provide the turning point of a film. That happens in "The Visitor," where he plays a man around 60 who has essentially shut down all of his emotions. A professor, he has been teaching the same class for years and cares nothing about it. He coldly rejects a student's late paper without even enquiring about the "personal problems" that made it late. He makes an elderly piano teacher figure out for herself why she will not be needed again. His lips form a straight line that neither smiles nor frown...He is forced to travel from his Connecticut campus to New York, to present an academic paper he co-authored. At least he is honest. Protesting the assignment, he tells a colleague he agreed to put his name on the paper as a favor, has not read it, is not competent to present it. He has to go anyway...This is a wonderful film, sad, angry, and without a comforting little happy ending. But I must not describe what happens, because the whole point of serious fiction is to show people changing, and how they change in "The Visitor" is the film's beauty. So much goes unsaid, and unseen...All four actors are charismatic, in quite different ways. Hiam Abbass is one of those actresses who respects small gestures; she knows that when a good cook is using an unfamiliar salt-shaker, she shakes the salt first into her hand, and then throws it into the pot. And she has other small gestures here that are much more fraught with meaning. Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira, as a musician and a jewelry-maker, are young, in love and simply nice people. The less complicated they are, the better the characters work. And as Walter, Jenkins creates a surprisingly touching, very quiet, character study. Not all actors have to call out to us. The better ones make us call out to them. - Roger Ebert
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