the visitor

This week sees the UK release of The Visitor, a drama about an economics professor (Richard Jenkins) who discovers two illegal immigrants living in his New York apartment.

I recently spoke to  Richard Jenkins and writer-director Tom McCarthy about the film.

Richard is probably best known for his supporting roles in films such as Flirting With Disaster, The Man Who Wasn’t There and as the ghost of Nathaniel Fisher in HBO’s Six Feet Under.

Tom made his debut as a writer-director with The Station Agent in 2003 and has acted in films such as Good Night, and Good Luck, Flags of Our Fathers and the TV shows The Wire and Law & Order.

You can listen to the interviews here:

You can download this interview as a podcast via iTunes by clicking here

The Visitor is out in UK cinemas from Friday

> Download this interview as an MP3 file
> Richard Jenkins and Tom McCarthy at the IMDb
> Official site for The Visitor
> Trailer and clips of the film at Take Part
> Video of Tom McCarthy discussing the issues of the film at the ACLU
> The Lost Children - A feature in The New Yorker by Margaret Talbot about US immigration and detention

[Photos: © Halcyon Pictures Ltd / WireImage]

Photos of Woody Allen’s latest film (as yet untitled) surfaced over at Just Jared recently.

They show Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood walking around Manhattan’s Lower East Side, in what would appear to be a riff on the familiar Allen theme of a young woman dating an older guy.

However, check out the poster to the left of them in this picture:

It is for Tom McCarthy’s new film The Visitor - which we wrote about on Tuesday.

As Jeffrey Wells has pointed out, this is the second time in recent years that Allen has plugged another film in the background of one of his - there was a shot of The Motorcyle Diaries showing at the Curzon Mayfair in a scene in Match Point.

[Link via Hollywood Elsewhere]

> IMDb page for the Unitled Woody Allen Project
> Our first thoughts on The Visitor

Tom McCarthy made one of the best films of 2003 with The Station Agent and his latest The Visitor is just as good.

The story involves a college professor (Richard Jenkins) who finds a young immigrant couple living in his New York apartment.

It then follows the characters as they connect with one another in unexpected ways.

Like his previous work, it is thoughtful, beautifully observed and features rounded characters who feel like people you might actually meet in real life.

Jenkins is a character actor you might recognise - he’s probably best known for his fine work as Nathaniel Fisher in Six Feet Under or as the FBI agent in Flirting with Disaster.

Here he is finally given a lead role that allows him demonstrate his considerable acting skills and there is fine support too from Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira and Hiam Abbass.

But what really makes this film stand out is the way it manages to tackle some really big themes with such intelligence and grace.

Immigration, loss and love are just a few of the issues dealt with here, but it never feels like a stodgy parable.

Instead, it manages to take us deep into the hearts and minds of people caught up in the chilly climate of a post-9/11 world.

It is one of those rare films that manages to engage your heart and brain, but does so with the subtle skill of a richly gifted director.

Check out the trailer here:

The Visitor is currently on limited release in the US and opens in the UK on July 4th

> Official site for The Visitor
> IMDb page
> Check out reviews of the film at Metacritic