The Visitor

Ubiquitous character actor Jenkins runs away with his lead role in McCarthy's humanistic drama. Widowed professor Walter Vale reeks of being stuck in his lonely, boring rut of a life. On a rare visit to New York, Walter finds immigrants Tarek (Sleiman) and his girlfriend Zainab (Gurira) living in his infrequently-used city apartment, the victims of a renter's scam. Walter allows them to stay until something can be figured out and is befriended by the gregarious Tarek, a musician. Unfortunately, Tarek runs into a bureaucratic nightmare (he's outstayed his visa) when he's arrested and incarcerated in a detention center. This brings Tarek's mother Mouna (Abbass) into the picture, which furthers Walter's re-emergence as a participant rather than a mere observer of life.