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Richard Jenkins has been acting for a long time.  In many ways, "The Visitor" harks back to those stowed away feelings I got years ago when I first watched Philip Baker Hall in "Hard Eight" (aka "Sydney").  Hall had been acting in films for a number of years--mostly as an unsung supporting character actor (minus his stunning turn in Altman's "Secret Honor").  "Hard" put Hall in the forefront; his major starring role billed him in front of such heavyweights as Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson.  Though big names like that are absent from "Visitor" it in no way makes Jenkins' performance less of a thing of beauty.  Like his colleague, Jenkins is in no hurry to give an overly theatrical lead performance.  There are moments of startling silence, and of sad secrets of a past life.

Director Thomas McCarthy ("The Station Agent") creates a deliberately isolated economics professor in Jenkins; his Walter Vale character is note perfect in showing just how unhappy he is with whatever he's looking at, albeit a late student paper or a shallow piano teacher.

Without giving too much away, a university-related conference in New York City forces Walter (Jenkins) to leave his quiet Connecticut life in order to present a paper he "co-authored."  Conveniently, Walter has an uptown apartment nestled in the art-interested area of the city.

I'll stop there.

There's a surprise, or ironic twist you could call it, that's waiting for Walter in his quiet apartment.  The way he handles this situation and the relationships that are formed from it, give the movie its weight and ultimate core of pathos.  Up until Walter walks into his apartment, we are pretty much watching a riff of Giamatti's wine-crazed loner from "Sideways."  But Jenkins does something special; he doesn't make Walter totally likable or such a sad old man that we're forced to feel sorry for him.  Walter has money, a secure job and respect from his colleagues.  No, what Jenkins gives to Walter is that added layer of personal yearning.  On the exterior Walter is successful: a college professor working on his fourth book.  Yet, on the inside, Jenkins is able to convey a void that is much more organic.

So once Walter starts to let loose musically and sometimes with foolish abandon, the feeling is euphoric.  Many critics have commented on the film's post-9/11 atmosphere or messaging, but that begins to distract from the film's real find: a dazzling lead performance from Jenkins, worthy of an Oscar nomination (I'm saying it now!).  I also felt that a few years ago, Jenkins was robbed of a supporting actor Oscar nod for his heartbreaking role in "North Country."

The 9/11 immigrant aspect is pushing what the film is doing in the wrong direction.  The film could have very well also dealt with illegal Mexicans or Chinese characters.  But it doesn't.  It deals with other nationalities.  Deal with it.

This is a film about relationships: the lack of relationships, the discovery of relationships and the ultimate loss of relationships.  It doesn't matter the person is from.

What matters is where you and that person go.