I’ve got two very good reasons for you to snag any teenagers in your family and head down to Neighborhood Flix this week to catch “The Visitor.”
First, it’s a terrific, quiet, perfectly tuned movie about people struggling to find their niche. It’s by the same writer-director who brought us “The Station Agent,” included in our book “The Denver Post Guide to the Best Family Films.” As “The Station Agent” did so well, “The Visitor” introduces us to a melancholy and seemingly unmatched group of strangers who grow to respect each other without any of the fake schmaltz of Hollywood.
The second reason to head over to Neighborhood Flix, across Colfax from East High School, is that it could use your support. It’s a gleaming, comfortable new place to watch great films in Denver, but it’s been slow to catch on. My 15-year-old daughter and I were the only two people in the house to watch “The Visitor” on a Tuesday night, and there wasn’t much happening in the lobby, either.
The advantage for us was that we each got to stretch out on one of the cool couches The Flix places in the center and at the back of its screening rooms. We lounged like royalty, and the snacks available at the food bar are a world away from stale popcorn and watery soda.
“The Visitor” starts with the depressed visage of widowed college professor Walter Vale, with no spark in his life. On a working visit to New York City, he stumbles across two illegal renters in his little-used apartment; instead of kicking them out, he leaves them alone, and eventually strikes up a friendship.
Tarek is a Syrian jazz drummer bubbling with hope; his girlfriend Zainab is as suspicious as Tarek is open. Tarek starts teaching Walter the drums; then, partly because of Walter, he’s nabbed by immigration in the subway. McCarthy has made Walter decent if not heroic, and we join Walter in confronting the Orwellian, Soviet-style method of detention now employed in America.
Take the time for the unexpected pleasures of “The Visitor” and for supporting a Denver theater that deserves to thrive.
“The Visitor”
Rated: PG-13, for language and mature content on the legal system
Best suited for: All parents and kids down to about 12 or 13, depending on their tolerance for quieter films.
