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The Visitor (2007) Certificate 15

The Visitor

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Rated 3.5 stars
Average rating
(70%)
 
Starring: Hiam Abbass | Amir Arison | Richard Jenkins | Maggie Moore | Laith Nakli | Haaz Sleiman
Director: Thomas McCarthy
Studio: HIGH FLIERS
Run time: 103 mins
Genres: Comedy | Drama
Languages: English
Released: February 09, 2009

A poignant and often funny film about rediscovering joy in the most unexpected places, The Visitor boasts an international cast including Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Dabai Gurira and Haim Abbass.

Sixty-two-year old Walter Vale (Jenkins) is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira) have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him, a decision which completely changes his life... Forever.

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Highest rated reviews

135 out of 143 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***


Rated 3.0 stars
Liberal propaganda?

A Customer from Bristol, 6th July, 2008

Firstly, I'm a bit of a liberal myself. I care about the suffering of people around the world and believe in concepts like fairness and compassion. But... This film presents such a rose tinted view of immigrants as being saintly creatures who bring nothing but goodness to their host countries and portrays those who would seek to limit or remove them as evil wrongdoers (who don't tip waiters in coffee shops - I kid you not). It starts well but by the end it's more like being lectured than entertained (the lead character is a lecturer incidentally) and I'm guessing it'll mainly be preaching to the converted since it's mainly liberals like me who'll end up seeing the film. A film that starts off well and has many good points ends up becoming something manipulative and slightly patronizing to both it's characters and it's audience.

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22 out of 22 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
intelligent and involving

mcclurg from , 18th February, 2009

I really enjoyed this movie . Great to see an american director make a film sympathetic to illegal ( and muslim ) immigrants. Richard Jenkins is excellent as the buttoned down professor rescued from an emotional arctic by his involvement with a young african couple . He acts with his eyes in a role which requires severe understatement . If you want to watch a film which rejects the posturing heroics of Hollywood and portrays the struggles of believable people rent this .

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18 out of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
No politics please

Wez from from Lutterworth, 25th February, 2009

I think I may be getting mellow in my old age watching a movie that has no gun shoot outs, car chases or decapitations and actually enjoying it. Enjoying it enough to give it five stars. Forget all the political commentary that may or may not be hidden when you read between the lines and just enjoy the film for what it is. A story about a man, stuck in his boring day to day life as a widowed lecturer. Finding meaning, purpose and changing his complete outlook on life for the better even though not all the people involved have happy endings. Maybe that’s what this film is all about. There is hope for us all.

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15 out of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
This is film-making at its best

Thedonald from , 17th March, 2009

Simply, this is a story of a man who has lost passion from his life and finds a chance to re-discover his deep feelings for the rest of humanity by happy accident. Called to deputise for a colleague at a Conference, he discovers two immigrants , Tarek and Zeinab, llegally sub-letting his apartment. After some indecision he allows them to stay becomes close friends with them, but the story revolves around an incident where one of his guests becomes a victim of a zealous authority. Richard Jenkins is superb as the withdrawn, reflective, and widowed university professor who discovers ia side of himself long forgotten, in sharing conversation, music, love and time with others. This film is a joy and its warmth affected me greatly. I love this film immensely and have great pleasure in recommending it to others as a gentle film where a lot happens.

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Most recent reviews

Rated 5.0 stars
Brilliant

Steve Norris from Retford, 19th March, 2010

This film is superb on every front. PLEASE RENT YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED

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*** May contain spoilers ***


Rated 3.0 stars
What a nice visitor

ISB from , 18th February, 2010

This is a nice, evenly paced, thoughtful film which would be good to watch on a weekday night me thinks. The only major criticism I have of this film is that the characters are pretty obvious; grumpy old man (who has a heart of gold), young good-looking creative type turns up(who becomes his new best pal), mysterious girlfriend (overly weary, tut tut tut), mum turns up (and turns out to be a reluctant stunna), yadda yadda yadda... you can see what's going to happen, not a mile off, but from quite far away. Having said that I was compelled to watch and happy to do so. It's a poignant and touching story which resonates clearly with today's western views on immigration. It's well directed and the acting is very good, especially from Jenkins who you can't help but like by the end. Good film, watch it, send it back.

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Rated 5.0 stars
The visitor

A Customer from surbiton, 13th February, 2010

A beautifully understated film, excellently acted and directed. Even if the character of Walter seems a little unlikely at times, watching his re-connection with the world emerge, in the face of the other characters' sad predicament, was very affecting indeed.

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Rated 5.0 stars
"if you are going to write a film about human beings you might as well make them people"

A Customer from Norfolk, 8th February, 2010

This Woody Allen quote (from The Front) came back to me when watching this film. The best film I have seen for a long time and refreshingly sympathetic toward the plight of illegal immigrants in the western world. The story unfolded in an unhurried yet fascinating way being impossible to predict the outcome. As the viewer you are as much drawn into the lives of the immigrants as 'Walter', the main character of the film. I would recommend this film and it is one of the few films I have given 5 stars to as I cannot fault it in anyway. it also leaves you thinking about it a long while after watching the film.

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