'The Visitor' is about a jaded academic widower who re-engages with life after encountering an illegal immigrant in his New York flat. Richard Jenkins is good in the lead role, but the film has an oddly anaemic air. Immigrants the world over are distinguished through their misfitting cultures, their poverty (resulting from a lack of connections and assets in their new world) and, as a reaction to the above; their rumbustiousness. Of course, not every immigrant fits this stereotype - yet in a sense, it's what makes immigrant communities interesting. 'The Visitor' is keen to debunk the cliché: its protagonists are mild, utterly American, not apparently poor, somewhat separate from their own communities and would be at home at any middle-class dinner table. While such a portrayal makes its own (not necessarily invalid) points, it feels like the professor makes a very short journey when he enters their world. He plays the piano, they play the African drums - and that's about it. In fact, the film's benign portrayal extends to the wider city, which has rarely seemed a less threatening place on film. But there's not a lot of drama to be found in it.
Review of The Visitor
