The Visitor

I'll keep this short.

I saw "The Visitor", starring Richard Jenkins (one of those guys you've seen in a ton of stuff, but would likely never know his name).

The bottom line is, it's one of the finest movies I've seen in a long, long time. Yeah, I know I just raved about "The Dark Knight", but that was a big budget pop corn flick. The kind of movie you'll want to see over and over again. "The Visitor" is a small indie film that you'll see once, and keep thinking about over and over again.

I hate reviews that are full of spoilers, so I'll try to avoid ruining anything, but the basic premise is Richard Jenkins plays a Connecticut college professor widower. He seems to be sleepwalking through his life, not really putting much of an effort into anything he does, from his teaching to his piano lessons. His job forces him to attend a conference in NYC. While there he meets a young couple who reawaken him. I don't want to say any more than that regarding the story.

The movie is the second film directed by Thomas McCarthy, who's first flick was the superb "The Station Agent". (If you've not seen this wonderful film, rent it right now!) His work on this film is likely even better. In less capable hands this film could have been a real predictable yawner, but in McCarthy's hands it's so real, and so honest it really grips you. I caught myself on more than one occasion questioning the actions of the lead character only to realize I was expecting the typical Hollywood response from him, when what I was being given was so much more real than that.

It's also a refreshing change of pace to have a filmaker trust the intellegence of the moviegoer and not cram things down your throat. Every time you might expect hamhanded exposition, it's not there. The intellegent and subtle script has everything you need in it to tell the story and leading to one of the finest endings I've seen in a long, long time. It's the perfect ending to a perfect movie.

Two thumbs WAY up.