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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with DAN CARRIER
Published: 3 July 2008

Richard Jenkins as Walter Vale, left, and Haaz Sleiman as Tarek, far right

Percussion saves professor from humdrum

THE VISITER
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Certificate 18

THERE is an immense sense of sadness hanging over this film and it means, despite a well-crafted and sincere plot and a strong cast with a sterlingly understated lead performance from Richard Jenkins, it’s hard to say watching director Tom McCarthy’s film is pleasurable.
Walter Vale (Jenkins) is drifting through life. A widower, he finds his work – he’s an economics professor – to be humdrum, as he teaches the same old classes over and over, and in his spare time tinkles badly on a piano – his motivation being chiefly that his wife was a concert pianist, not because he finds any sort of creative release through music.
Of course, things can’t continue like this.
He heads to New York to attend a conference and discovers his city pad has been rented out to Syrian drummer Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), and his girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira). At first Walter wants these unwanted tenants out, but then decides they can stay for a short time: it leads to a voyage of rediscovering his chutzpah by befriending the pair.
Walter is taught how to bang drums by Tarek and has his eyes opened once more to the charms of the city. But the pair are in the US illegally and things go wrong when Tarek is arrested and sent to a detention centre.
McCarthy manages to avoid sentimental cliches and a straightforward rant about the state of the Union, post 9/11. Yet there appears to be something slightly bogus about the relationships between the main characters and Walter, who occasionally defies convention in a way that undermines the believable nature of the film.

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