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Tom McCarthy Welcomes The Visitor
Tom McCarthy directs The Visitor (2008).
A 50-something man walks into his New York City apartment. He opens the bathroom door and finds an unknown Zimbabwean woman stark naked in his tub. Her Lebanese boyfriend throws the apartment owner against the wall and demands to know what’s going on. It turns out that all three have become victims of a subletting scam. The men soon bond while playing together in a Central Park drum circle. (You read that right, a drum circle.) Then the Middle Easterner is arrested—he and his girlfriend have been living in America illegally—and the older man must negotiate the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the U.S. immigration system in a post-9/11 landscape in order to keep his newfound friend from being deported.
It’s worth recounting the central premise of Tom McCarthy’s The Visitor to emphasize that what sounds potentially cloying or cringe-worthy on the page, and would probably sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to studio executives in a pitch meeting, can become something graceful, intimate and incredibly moving in the right hands. The emotional journey taken by Richard Jenkins’ (“Six Feet Under”) closed-off college professor never strays into movie-of-the-week territory; even his embrace of some rather hippie-dippy pastimes feels strangely organic. Connection, the movie says, can often be found in the most unusual circumstances.
Of course, if someone had tried to describe the gist of McCarthy’s 2003 directorial debut, The Station Agent (a grieving mother, a lunch truck owner and a little person all hang out together at a former railway station), you might have politely passed… and you would have missed one of the best independent films of the last 10 years. Though the 39-year-old McCarthy has spent several decades as a versatile character actor—most recently as a journalist with a Jayson Blair-like imagination on HBO’s “The Wire”—his “side job” as a writer-director reveals a distinct humanistic voice and a knack for getting amazing performances out of his actors. The Visitor not only confirms that this moviemaker’s original oddball ménage a trois character study wasn’t a fluke, but showcases a knack for dealing with big issues like immigration and national security without resorting to preachiness or treacle.
MM spoke with McCarthy at the Sundance Film Festival, where The Visitor screened to enthusiastic crowds.
David Fear (MM): The idea for The Visitor dates back to your days working on The Station Agent, right?
Tom McCarthy (TM): You can trace the movie back to a couple of moments of inspiration. Someone asked me about the drum circle yesterday and it occurred to me that my fascination with the Central Park drummers actually predates any thoughts on, say, the immigration issues. I have photos of those musicians on my computer that date back to early 2004; I’d wanted to use that in a film for a while.
One was from my trip to Lebanon, when I went to screen The Station Agent there. I met a number of artists, filmmakers and musicians who live there, and ended up going back a few times to visit. There’s a very vibrant nightlife going on, lots of cafes… the country has a very Mediterranean feel. I remember thinking, ‘Why have I never seen this side of Lebanon on-screen? Why have I never seen these people portrayed the way they are?’ [The character of] Tarek’s sense of humor, charisma and generosity all come from my Lebanese friends. I had the central idea for Richard’s character—this closed-off man coming out of his shell—in mind as well, but that idea wasn’t attached to anything. It really does come down to a process of taking all these free-floating elements and putting them together.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Geri on 10/03/08 at 5:56 pm
I caught The Visitor when it was in theaters, and it was one of my favorite films of the whole year! Richard Jenkins from Six Feet Under was outstanding, and the message of friendship throughout the movie was very powerful. The Visitor will be released on DVD October 7th, and I definitely plan on buying it. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you can find more info here: thevisitorfilm.com
- Comment by landscape painting on 2/05/09 at 1:16 pm
Great article, it is a very important issue to talk about.
- Comment by Stew334 on 2/17/09 at 2:31 pm
I caught The Visitor when it was in theaters, and it was one of my favorite films of the whole year! Richard Jenkins from Six Feet Under was outstanding, and I really hope he wins the Oscar for best actor! The Visitor is now on DVD, and I definitely plan on getting a copy. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you can find more info here:
thevisitorfilm.com- Comment by Netbook Sleeves on 5/23/09 at 9:33 am
Tom McCarthy isn’t someone I really knew about. Nice to read the interview and see his insights. Another reason why I love your site. Lots of surprises. Thanks!
- Comment by Asus Netbook on 6/30/09 at 9:51 pm
I agree with Stew above. The Visitor rocked seriously! I yapped at my wife for a week after seeing it!! Cheers!
- Comment by abercrombie on 7/01/09 at 2:20 am
Hope to be better. Better means more features.
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This story was published in the Spring 2008 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
Tom McCarthy's Immigrant Song
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