The Visitor

Not a review just a detailed synopsis

I have to agree that this film is an important one. It's a small indie movie that does well in becoming a powerful film through all its uncharacteristic elements. Like the low budget or the 4 main actors or the scattered and scarce dialogue. It really has all the essentials of becoming a boring movie. Although I must say. I have a sort of bias , in that themes about immigration or displacement are one's very close to me, because both my parents were immigrants and I come from a people who struggle everyday to prove they just want to belong and not be considered criminals for taking shits on american toilets. 

The film's protagonist is, for lack of a better term, a bored character. His name is Walter Vale and is played by Richard Jenkins, who received a 2009 academy award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of the character Walter. Walter is a very specifically written character who at the point of the film's commencement is rather apathetic as a result of not experiencing anything rewarding in his life. He is a recent widower who attempts to preserve his wife's past existence by learning how to classically play the piano, as she did professionally. Turns out, he can't and his cycle through new piano instructors has become jaded to him, among other things. He is a professor who has been teaching the same subject for 2 decades and has already written three books and in the process of writing a third. But when directed to go to New York for a conference, professor Walter Vale's life would no longer be the same as before.

As he enters his New York apartment after months of neglect, he discovers an African woman,Zainab played by a relatively new actress Danai Jekesai Gurira,in his bath tub. Startled by his discovery, he is confused but before processing the situation and making sense of the confusion he is aggressively confronted by a Middle Eastern man, Tarik Kahlil played by Haaz Sleiman, who was nominated for an ' 09 Indie Sprit Award for best supporting actor for his role as Tarik. Both strangers are young and are a couple. After hastily discussing the situation at hand while packing and preparing to the leave the couple reveal that they have been renting the place from a man named Ivan. Vale, having no knowledge of an Ivan or that his place was being lived in, made no attempt to chastise the strangers and respectfully let them depart from his home. After seeing them alone outside and no where to stay he tells them to return and spend the night. The relationship between the three quickly spirals into something positive. They all live together during Walter's time in NY for the conference. They are all seemingly amicable and almost friends.

The relationship between Tarik and Walter has its turning point when Tarik discovers Walter playing his drum. Walter is slightly embarrassed to have noticed Tarik noticing him. Tarik instead attempts to teach Walter to play. They begin playing non-stop. Walter, because he has finally learned to execute musical talent and Tarik, because it is his job to play. One day the new friends decide to play at a park with other drummers. It is then, when Walter feels that break in his internal monotony. He is happy. And so is Tarik. The drums are an important motif because the two learned from each other through the exotic instrument and it is the drum that catapults this stunning relationship between all characters.

On their way back home they go to the subway but Tarik gets stuck while trying to get through so he slightly hops the passageway. The police stop him and he is detained at jail. Walter confused yet again by what has happened doesn't stop to take into account if what indeed is serious. After telling Zainab she tell him historically that they are illegal and that Tarik's detention could also mean his deportation. This experience leads to Zainab leaving Walters home and Tariks mother going to NY from michigan as a result of Tariks lack of calls. 

After his arrest we see a deep enthrallment between these different polarities of people that are Tariks loved ones. 

It may not be a satisfying ending by conventional expectation (cough cough Americans). Lets just say this ain't no Slumdog and you won't leave with a smile on your face and an Oscar in your hand. It is powerful, realistic and beautifully ironic. It is a story about music and the threading veins that connect us all through the unexpected.