The Visitor ****

"The Visitor" shows us a man reconnecting with life as he gets involved in the circumstances of two illegal immigrants whose own situations are a precarious mix of survival and living in the shadows. Character-driven, with uniformly excellent performances (watch for these names at award time), this second film from writer/director Thomas McCarthy - his first was the highly-praised "The Station Agent" (2003) - is a moving story and a surprising, up-close view of the post-9/11 plight of illegal immigrants who have been denied asylum.

Richard Jenkins, who we've seen in literally scores of films in minor roles, here plays Walter Vale, a college professor just going through the motions. McCarthy shows us scenes from his life, teaching one class, going to lunch, taking piano lessons at 61, talking about a book we don't see him working on. In a few deft strokes, McCarthy and Jenkins lay out his bleak life, a life that seems to have totally deflated after his wife died.

Vale must go to New York for a conference, and finds a couple living in his apartment (Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira) who have been scammed into paying someone to live in Vale's mostly-unused apartment. After first kicking them out, Vale relents and opens up just the slightest bit, and lets them stay while they look for another place.

What follows is organically told and revelatory. Sleiman is a drummer from Syria, and something in Vale responds to the African rhythms in the jazz clubs and parks of New York. Vale gets a drum lesson from Tarek, and slowly starts to come out of his shell. The writing, directing, and acting are here of the highest order. Sleiman is charming and magnetic, while Gurira is an African goddess: beautiful, exotic, and suspicious. An unexpected crisis bring Tarek's mother (a fine Hiam Abbass) into the picture, and Vale's reintroduction to life expands again.

"The Visitor" may surprise in its depiction of illegal immigrants, who are notably voiceless this election year, but it does not come across as a political tract, but rather as a glimpse into some lives that we would not have otherwise known.

Rated PG-13. 108 minutes. Thomas McCarthy - Director / Writer (screenplay), Michael London - Producer, Mary Jane Skalski - Producer, Jeff Skoll - Producer, Oliver Bokelberg - Cinematographer, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - Composer, John Paino - Production Designer, Tom McArdle - Editor. Distributed by OvertureFilms.

Principal actors: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira, Hiam Abbass, Marian Seldes.