A few years ago Tom McCarthy made a fantastic and touching movie called The Station Agent that, unfortunately, very few people saw. His follow up, The Visitor, is just as fantastic and touching, though this time much more topical. Richard Jenkins stars (what a year for him) as widower college professor whose life receives a much needed spark from the discovery of two wonderfully portrayed illegal immigrants living in his rarely visited Manhattan apartment. Just as he is coming out of his shell, one of the two is detained and a legal battle ensues. McCarthy has seriously got his shit down. The script is perfectly paced and every role is superbly acted. The world of secret detention centers and midnight deportations provides a terrifying backdrop, yet the story never loses its glimmer of light. The characters’ visions of America and its limitless possibilities juxtapose so well with legalities of post 9/11 reality. This juxtaposition creates a texture rich enough to be explored much further. But McCarthy should be applauded for reigning in the desire to serve up more than we can chew – instead giving us this compact and intensely personal story of how anyone can be touched by such events.