Strong performances in 'The Visitor'

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You're a burned-out academic away at a conference, when you step inside an apartment you've kept for ages but haven't visited in months. Stepping inside, you find two illegal immigrants living there.Some might run away and call the police, but Walter (Richard Jenkins), the protagonist of "The Visitor," is too stunned to be scared. He accidentally walks in on Senegalese woman Zainab (Danai Jekesai Gurira) as she's bathing, then braces himself as her Syrian boyfriend, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), accosts him in the hallway.Turns out it was all a big misunderstanding. Tarek and Zainab were renting the place from some guy who claimed to be a friend of the owner. Walter halfheartedly stands by as the couple throw themselves out. Touched by glimpsing a framed picture of them they left behind, Walter chases them down and relieves them of their homelessness -- and himself of his loneliness.Writer/director Thomas McCarthy, unheard from since his debut, "The Station Agent" (2003), again delivers a fine-tuned drama about unlikely friends. Both films thrive on their naturalistic dialogue and clever, poignant plotting."The Visitor" unfolds in a succession of twists and turns alternately sweet and sour, pulling you along by the heartstrings through a series of surprises. And by "surprises" I mean shudderingly bleak revelations of mankind's coldness, particularly the members of mankind who generate, maintain and enforce unfeeling immigration policies.The story may be heavy-handed, but you follow along out of your love for the characters. Tarek is a joyful street musician who takes Walter under his wing, teaching him how to bang out a rhythm on a bongo. Zainab isn't as quick to warm to Walter, observing him with distrust, as she does most whites. But Walter and Zainab bond later on, when things get difficult and Walter surprises himself by discovering life hasn't quite beaten all the drive out of him.Few actors are as adept as Jenkins ("Six Feet Under") at playing uptight, vacant-eyed loners repressing longings. This is his film through and through. For better and worse.Despite the trappings of its socially progressive message, at its core "The Visitor" is really about "the man" slumming to use his connections and influence to help out poor, incapable foreigners. Now, if it could only be seen by the "the man," so it could influence him to become more like Walter.The Visitor3 stars out of 4--Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language.--Family call: Adult subject matter.--Running time: 108 minutes.Reach Phil Villarreal at Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com