Once in awhile a movie comes into town quietly and just as quietly engulfs the film goer; "The Visitor" is such a film. It is the complete opposite of an 'action' film--not a gun is fired nor a curse word uttered. Nary a fight in sight and only on three occasions are voices raised yet in it's quietness you learn a lot about the four main characters.

Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is an economics professor who appears to be sleep walking through life after the death of his wife. He teaches, and lives, at a Connecticut college while still keeping a two bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village in New York that he very seldom visits and/or stays at.

An aside: I didn't know economic professors do so well money wise--not only does he own the 2 places but he can afford to park in a NYC garage for days at a time! :O)

Coming to the city to present a paper at a conference he goes to his apartment to find a young couple living there having 'rented' it from someone the professor doesn't seem to know. Though not an important part of the story I wondered how this scam took affect without anyone the wiser.

The young couple, Tarek, (Haaz Sleiman) and his girlfriend, Zainab, (Danai Gurira) are illoegal immigrants who are earning their living as artists--he a drummer, she a jewelry maker--quietly living their life without bringing undo attention their way.

As the story is being set up you feel that it can go many ways but no matter what direction it takes you now that it will shake the professor up and out of the stupor he seems to be in and the couple does just that as he comes to care for them. As he comes to care for them, and learns the art of drumming from Tarek, and becomes involved with their lives Walter changes and becomes alive during the process.

The acting, including that of Hiam Abbass as Tarek's mother, is all first rate while the young couple are very attractive, Hiam interesting and Richard Jenkins looks both 'dead' in the first half of the film and becomes alive in the second half. The only jarring note is the appearance of Richard Kind in an unnecessary role. As always a pleasure to see Marian Seldes on screen.

Though there are many deep themes tackled, such as the paranoia since 9/11, immigration, the 'disappearance' of illegals, they are not thrown in your face but, again there is that word, quietly presented and dealt with.

The story and direction both by Tom McCarthy are his sophomore efforts following his debut with "The Station Agent", another film that disarmed the audience and handles both aspects of this movie with a sure hand.

For a change, the director of photography, Oliver Bookelberg shows a Manhattan I recognize though Washington Square looks like it has certainly been cleaned up.

The only quibble I had with The Visitor was the ending but not in the way you might think. Allen and Gino were looking for a more romantic, but unrealistic ending, while I thought that Richard Jenkins last two minutes would have gotten him arrested or, at the least, thrown in front of a train by New Yorkers--you have to see it to believe it. :O)