Matinee Monday: The Visitor (2007)

Nearly a decade before Tom McCarthy was showered with awards for Spotlight, he wrote and directed a beautiful film in 2007 called The Visitor. The independent film stars Richard Jenkins, in a role that earned him his first Oscar nomination. He plays a widowed economics professor named Walter Vale, who unexpectedly finds a young couple (played by Haaz Sleiman and Black Panther’s Danai Gurira) living in his apartment, and, he comes to learn that they’re illegal immigrants. When Walter decides to let them stay, he forms a sweet relationship with Tarek, who is a Palestinian-Syrian djembe player, who teaches him how to play, along with Walter forming a friendship with his mother, when she unexpectedly visits as well. It’s a memorable film about healing from grief, along with bringing to light immigration issues in post-9/11 New York City.