Weekend Critic’s Favorite: The Visitor

4 months in, 2008 has only yielded a couple of artistic gems — and most of us can’t see either one of them yet. Opening two weeks ago was Alexandra, (“a film of startling originality and beauty”). This quietly luminous story of a Chechnyan grandmother’s visit to her grandson’s army camp is showing in a single theater nationwide. This week there’s another Spring highlight getting near unanimous rave reviews — one you won’t be seeing unless you live near one of the 4 theaters showing Tom McCarthy’s “The Visitor.”

“This eloquent, unassuming movie evokes the miraculousness of finding a sense of place.” — Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com



“A heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you…Tom McCarthy is already that rare talent who can work in miniature to reveal major truths.” — Peter Traver, Rolling Stone



“Best movie I’ve seen so far this year? Hands down, it’s Tom McCarthy’s superb The Visitor, which turns Richard Jenkins, one of the best character actors in the business, into a full-fledged star.” — Lou Lumenick, New York Post



“This audaciously issues-loaded indie drama works, improbably and entirely, on account of the marvelous, often familiar-looking, rarely starring character actor Richard Jenkins and his perfect performance as a stodgy, widowed economics professor.” — Lisa Swarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly



“It is one of the year’s most intriguing dramas, with a quartet of powerful performances.” — Claudia Puig, USA Today

With a score of 80 on Metacritic, and 88% overall on RT (100% positive among the RT “Top Critics”) The Visitor is among the most highly praised films of the new year. It sounds like it has all the elements of a warm-hearted “crowd-pleaser” too, as soon as the right crowd gets to see it. Of course you can’t please everybody, and this week the critic who’s not pleased is Scott Foundas, whose smug review revolves around what he dismissively calls “liberal guilt.” (Funny how some people think liberals are supposed to feel guilty about social problems exacerbated by conservatism — but that’s a subject for another discussion… hey! like the topic below!)