Flick Review: The Visitor

The Visitor Directed by Tom McCarthy Indie Drama PG 13 (for brief strong language) 103 Min. April, 2007

Awards: Best Music - 2008 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Associat Best Original Screenplay - Tom McCarthy - 2008 San Diego Film Critics Association Best Independent Film - 2008 National Board of Review Best Director - 2008 Independent Spirit Awards

Go to The New York Times for the whole list of (tons) of awards The Visitor was nominated for as well as those which it received.

A grieving and bored-with-life professor (Richard Jenkins) is just getting by in life. He survives committing himself to nothing more than the minimum effort required to make it day by day- he eats, sleeps and works. When his boss sends him to represent a paper he co-authored he finds something waiting for him in his apartment. Unsure and very cautious he takes a full step forward, it is by mistake that he finds himself with the hope of human relationships. The need for family, for a human bond will make the widowed professor Walter Vale assess the real value of all that he has and has lost- and needs to get back.

This flick is the type where while (and after) you watch it you just can't imagine how it could have not been brought to your attention before. I only have the Netflix automated suggestions computer to thank that I have even seen it now. For me there are films, flicks and movies...those which you choose because you just want to veg and sit and watch- they aren't really worth the time, but they are just filler in a busy day. And then there are movies like The Visitor, which I watched almost two weeks ago and still I am thinking about it, chewing it, loving it. The actors, (Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira and Hiam Abbass) although not really bigwigs, they did some of the best acting I have seen in a long time. Plot, acting and cinematography all work together to make The Visitor a flick worth its weight in books. Yes, this is a must see, period.

The Visitor is a story of grief, of relationship, of family and the loss that is felt when people leave. Holes which we think can never be filled again. In truth that exact place cannot be perfectly matched. But because we fear moving on it is easy to be trapped in a place where our joy is limited- by no one else but ourselves. Choosing to live in the past so as not to forget, so as not to move on. Fear and love hold tight, only to be broken open when the grieving person allows for joy to come back in.

When life takes turns to drastically satisfy are we ready to jump with it, or is the choice of 'moving on' just as hard as living a life in mourning?

I have a new award, I think you will like it and I am honoured to give it to this flick before any other one, yes this movie is to cluck about!

This is The Visitor trailer, however I will caution you that if you already want to see it after the review that you NOT watch it....I wish I had expereienced the film for the first time while watching it. I feel like too much is given away in the trailer. But if you aren't convinced yet, after my review....check out the trailer, then you will be won over completely. Promise.

If you are a Netflix customer, you can view The Visitor as a "watch instantly" flick, and really you should head over and do that right now.

Check out The Visitor links:

The Visitor on Rotten Tomatoes. com
The Visitor: Netflix
New York Times Critics' Pick: The Visitor Review