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seriously
The New York Times reports:
In “The Visitor”, Richard Jenkins plays an economist whose flagging joie de vivre is restored when he takes up drumming.
It opens today in limited release.
It's by the guy who made The Station Agent, a movie about a New Jersey resident with achondroplasia; here is more information.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 11, 2008 at 06:39 AM in Film | Permalink
Comments
Midget is considered offensive.
Posted by: josh at Apr 11, 2008 7:36:41 AM
Please no!
Does it mean that from now on also the professionals on crisis will start beating up some bloody congo drums ? Were not enough the stoned young at parks, the uniformely equiped squaters, the rastafaris and so ? There is no one left to apreciate the silence ?
PS: Thank God, some very effective biological mechanism avoids this kind of sillyness to last more than a few weeks.
Posted by: ortega at Apr 11, 2008 7:44:57 AM
Thanks Josh I have corrected...
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Apr 11, 2008 7:46:42 AM
Richard Feynman would have liked this film.
Posted by: londenio at Apr 11, 2008 7:54:46 AM
Yes, I was just going to say that it reminded me of Richard Feynman, although I doubt he suffered from a lack of joie de vivre before he took up drums.
Posted by: Luis Enrique at Apr 11, 2008 8:13:47 AM
I saw this at the South by Southwest festival, it is an excellent commentary on U.S. immigration policy and the status of/attitudes toward immigrants in present-day America.
Posted by: Sean at Apr 11, 2008 8:38:42 AM
It would be better if it were about a drummer whose flagging joie de vivre is restored when he become an economist!
Posted by: Alex Tabarrok at Apr 11, 2008 8:53:40 AM
I wonder how many dismal science references are going to be made in this one.
Posted by: JH at Apr 11, 2008 9:08:21 AM
"Connection is everything" says the poster. "Only connect" was much superior. Ain't life getting verbose?
Posted by: dearieme at Apr 11, 2008 9:59:13 AM
Why is the professor archetype in Hollywood some old sad sack without any energy or zest for life and too little wisdom?
There's that other new one with Dennis Quaid, too. The tag line on that one says it all: some times the smartest people have the most to learn.
These are boring stories...
Posted by: Rue Des Quatre Vents at Apr 11, 2008 10:00:57 AM
I like Alex's comment.
And I agree with Rue, even as someone who tends toward 'indie film.'
Posted by: meter at Apr 11, 2008 10:16:11 AM
What do you call a drummer who's broken up with his girlfriend?
Homeless.
Posted by: Nacho Bizness at Apr 11, 2008 10:46:30 AM
...that's a djembe, not a congo; much cooler.
Posted by: shawn at Apr 11, 2008 11:20:13 AM
Why not just do a story about Feynman...? Real life can be much more interesting than fiction sometimes.
Posted by: Admiral at Apr 11, 2008 11:50:22 AM
Looks like "The Girl in the Cafe", minus the girl.
Posted by: David at Apr 11, 2008 12:50:21 PM
I've only seen the trailer, but contra Sean, above, I was quite offended by the idea that someone could get arrested on the NY subway and then, if he was an illegal immigrant, suddenly find himself locked up in a detention center awaiting deportation. Illegal immigrants in NY need to know that they can trust the police, including the transport police, and not fear them. Which is why the NYPD makes great effort to reassure people that it will not report their immigration status to the Federal authorities unless they're being charged with a very serious crime.
Posted by: Felix at Apr 11, 2008 1:06:52 PM
Sorry filmmakers. I don't need lessons on how to live life from quirky hipster chicks (oops, that was the Bill Nighy movie) or quirky charming ethnics channeling funky eternal wisdom. I wouldn't know what to do with my groove if I got it back, and couldn't recover my mojo if it bit me in the ass. That's the same grass-is-greener fantasy that got into Paul Gauguin, and he came to a sorry end. The immigrants I know are for the most part doing their level best to get into boringly well-remunerated non-precarious lines of work and the musicians I know are turning day jobs into a change of career; one is becoming a lawyer in fact. It's vexing that middle-aged white males are perpetually portrayed with this sad-sack stereotype, but I guess I'll just cry all the way to the bank.
Posted by: at Apr 11, 2008 1:24:44 PM
While I don't know the story, this is a relevant quote from Feynman:
"The fact that I beat a drum has nothing to do with the fact that I do theoretical physics. Theoretical physics is a human endeavour, one of the higher developments of human beings — and this perpetual desire to prove that people who do it are human by showing that they do other things that a few other humans do (like playing bongo drums) is insulting to me. I am human enough to tell you to go to hell."
-- Richard Feynman
Link: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/01/quotes-8.html
Posted by: Sam at Apr 11, 2008 3:37:27 PM
The guy who wrote and directed this movie is Tom McCarthy. He is also an actor - he played the journalist who made up his stories in the most recent season of The Wire. The Station Agent is one of the best small budget movies of recent years. I look forward to The Visitor. Yes, I am also from NJ.
Posted by: John at Apr 11, 2008 6:17:04 PM
I saw this movie at Sundance (living in Utah has it's high points) and its more of a movie about the human tragedy of immigration policies than it is about this dodgy professor. I think in the whole movie he serves simply to provide momentum to the plot, or a more accessible point to get to know the immigrants he comes into contact with. It's a good movie. I would definitely go see it (again)!
Posted by: Matt Blank at Apr 11, 2008 6:48:58 PM
An Economist who keeps a vacant Manhattan apartment?
Posted by: MJ at Apr 11, 2008 7:29:33 PM
Why not just do a story about Feynman...? Real life can be much more interesting than fiction sometimes.
They are, or at least, they were.
Posted by: John at Apr 11, 2008 8:16:56 PM
Looks cool. "The Station Agent" was an excellent film, I highly recomend it.
Posted by: RunColo at Apr 12, 2008 1:54:24 AM
I could be that drummer who takes up economics as a hobby.
The movie about Feynman was already made: Infinity http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116635/
Posted by: Andrew at Apr 12, 2008 4:12:53 AM
Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm a 40-something white guy who lives for his Sunday afternoons at the Venice drumming circle in California.
I don't think there's anything too strange about this guy finding his inner groovologist at a drumming circle.
While the immigrants in Venice are (according to my unscientific estimation) mostly of the Mexican variety, the opportunity to commune with drug addicts, alcoholics, an occasional schizophrenic, aging hippies, super-models, strippers, gawking tourists, teenage-posers, and white-color slaves to the rhythm such as myself is of such personal value that I truly do consider this my weekly religious ceremony.
I guess you could say that I relate with the lead character of The Visitor. Good stuff, those drumming circles. See you in Venice!
Posted by: Al at Apr 13, 2008 7:11:48 PM
