"The Visitor"

"The Visitor" is another in the recent genre of films about depressed academics (like Dennis Quaid's professor in "Smart People," although that film hit the double whammy of also having an almost-40 year old woman pining for a baby), with Richard Jenkins (the dead father in "Six Feet Under") as the professor who is living a dull, empty life, until he crosses paths with a young couple who have been tricked into renting his apartment. The rest of the film is not much more than an unfolding of the plot that you may have seen in the trailer (I think I saw it a dozen times myself), which normally would annoy me. For once, though, the details surrounding the basic plot points were the magic of the movie experience - the quietness of Jenkins's acting as his character evolves is both believable and heart-wrenching.

I also developed a little crush on Haaz Sleiman, the actor who plays the drummer living in the professor's apartment. He looked really familiar to me, and although his credits include "24" and "The Ski Trip," I am going to have to assume it's from the episode of "Veronica Mars" where she investigated a hate crime against a Middle Eastern family.

I meant to see another movie this weekend, but didn't make it. It was a weekend of catching my breath, getting errands done, sitting in my apartment and feeling relaxed.