Omar Amanat has won an undisclosed settlement against four British publications who called the Summit Entertainment investor "an imposter." Amanat was one of the "Twilight" studio's early backers. In a series of articles in November 2010, several U.K. papers and magazine such as Ok Magazine, New! Magazine and the Daily Express reported that Amanat crashed the premiere of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" and misrepresented his relationship with Summit. Also read: Summit Investor's Libel Suit Reveals Omar Amanat's Control After Amanat sued them for libel, those papers were forced to issue apologies on their...
- 7/14/2011
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
Apology From WENN
Omar Amanat
WENN acknowledges that it mistakenly facilitated the publication of unfounded allegations regarding the status and professional standing of Omar Amanat, a founding member of the board of directors of Summit Entertainment LLC, the independent studio behind the Twilight Saga trilogy of movies.
We have now ascertained that Mr. Amanat not only controls approximately twenty percent of a company that forms the largest shareholder in Summit Entertainment LLC, but additionally provided or otherwise introduced fifty percent of the equity in that company. He is absolutely not a "Twilight Biz imposter", but the antithesis of that description.
We also acknowledge Mr. Amanat's prominent reputation and business connections in the UK, and his extensive international charitable and philanthropic work.
We unreservedly withdraw any such allegations questioning Mr. Amanat's status and relationship with Summit Entertainment LLC and very much regret the publication of allegations which should never have been published by us in the first place.
We apologise to Mr. Amanat for any embarrassment or prejudice we may have caused to him and his reputation. As a mark of our regret we have agreed to pay him damages, which he intends to donate to the charity Malaria No More and to pay his legal costs.
WENN acknowledges that it mistakenly facilitated the publication of unfounded allegations regarding the status and professional standing of Omar Amanat, a founding member of the board of directors of Summit Entertainment LLC, the independent studio behind the Twilight Saga trilogy of movies.
We have now ascertained that Mr. Amanat not only controls approximately twenty percent of a company that forms the largest shareholder in Summit Entertainment LLC, but additionally provided or otherwise introduced fifty percent of the equity in that company. He is absolutely not a "Twilight Biz imposter", but the antithesis of that description.
We also acknowledge Mr. Amanat's prominent reputation and business connections in the UK, and his extensive international charitable and philanthropic work.
We unreservedly withdraw any such allegations questioning Mr. Amanat's status and relationship with Summit Entertainment LLC and very much regret the publication of allegations which should never have been published by us in the first place.
We apologise to Mr. Amanat for any embarrassment or prejudice we may have caused to him and his reputation. As a mark of our regret we have agreed to pay him damages, which he intends to donate to the charity Malaria No More and to pay his legal costs.
- 7/7/2011
- WENN
Exclusive Omar Amanat may be the most powerful person in Hollywood you’ve never heard of. The press-shy investor filed a libel lawsuit last week against four British publications for calling him an “impostor.” But he’s no impostor; Amanat controls 20 percent of Peak Group Holdings, the biggest shareholder in Summit Entertainment, according to documents obtained by TheWrap. Also read: 'The Secret Summit Prospectus' Those documents further show that Amanat has huge power at the independent film studio. According to the lawsuit and related ownership agreements, Amanat can block any decision by Summit’s board of directors, of...
- 3/15/2011
- by Brent Lang
- The Wrap
London, Nov 6 – Movie bosses of the Twilight series have threatened legal action against a businessman who has allegedly been posing as a Summit Entertainment executive and duping cast members into attending screenings.
The Executive Vice President of Summit Entertainment, David C. Friedman, has written to New York-based Omar Amanat threatening to sue if he continues to “misrepresent” that he is “currently affiliated” with the production company, reports Daily Express.
The website Deadline.com said that Amanat has screened some of the vampire films at ‘charity’ events and talked some of the franchise’s stars into making appearances.
It reads,.
The Executive Vice President of Summit Entertainment, David C. Friedman, has written to New York-based Omar Amanat threatening to sue if he continues to “misrepresent” that he is “currently affiliated” with the production company, reports Daily Express.
The website Deadline.com said that Amanat has screened some of the vampire films at ‘charity’ events and talked some of the franchise’s stars into making appearances.
It reads,.
- 11/6/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
Darfur Now
NEW YORK -- This documentary might co-star Don Cheadle and George Clooney and feature a cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it's not another installment of the popular "Ocean's" franchise. Rather, Darfur Now is a sober and passionate accounting of the efforts of six people working hard to help bring the world's attention to the ongoing tragedy in the Sudan region.
Unfortunately, for all its good intentions, Theodore Braun's docu feels at times misplaced in its emphasis and more than a little self-congratulatory in its tone. This is particularly true in the case of its profile of Cheadle (who also produced), which takes on the air of a high-minded Entertainment Tonight segment.
The people profiled in the film include the aforementioned actor, who describes his awakening to the African situation during the filming of Hotel Rwanda; Adam Sterling, a young UCLA student whose political activism helped lead to the passing of a California bill keeping state funds out of the region; Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, the leader of a massive camp inhabited by about 47,000 refugees; Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, who sets out to pursue Darfurian war criminals; Pablo Recalde, an Ecuadorian who has led efforts to bring food to the starving people of the area; and Hejewa Adam, a young mother who became an armed rebel after her 3-month-old son was killed by government forces.
The filmmakers gained unprecedented access to the region, garnering much footage that provides a vivid picture of the ongoing horrors. But it fails to deliver much in the way of background information and context, with the result that those not already familiar with the details of the situation might find themselves a bit lost.
While its activist subjects are indeed laudable, the film squanders much of its running time on ephemera. This is somewhat true with Sterling, who we see working his day job waiting tables in a Santa Monica restaurant, and very true of Cheadle, who admittedly gave needed star power to the project.
Interviewed at length to mournful piano under-scoring, the actor is seen hanging out with his kids, driving in his car, autographing his book and traveling across the world with his friend Clooney attempting to sway whatever politicians and government officials will meet them. It's a depressing reminder that in today's world, not even the effort to prevent an ongoing genocide is immune from the need for celebrity endorsement.
DARFUR NOW
Warner Independent Pictures
A Participant Prods. presentation of a
Crescendo/Mandalay Independent Pictures production
Credits:
Director-writer: Theodore Braun
Producers: Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Mark Jonathan Harris
Executive producers: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Omar Amanat, Matt Palmieri, Gary Greenebaum, Dean Schramm
Director of photography: Kirsten Johnson
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Lenore Zerman
Editor: Leonard Feinstein
Running time -- 99 minutes...
Unfortunately, for all its good intentions, Theodore Braun's docu feels at times misplaced in its emphasis and more than a little self-congratulatory in its tone. This is particularly true in the case of its profile of Cheadle (who also produced), which takes on the air of a high-minded Entertainment Tonight segment.
The people profiled in the film include the aforementioned actor, who describes his awakening to the African situation during the filming of Hotel Rwanda; Adam Sterling, a young UCLA student whose political activism helped lead to the passing of a California bill keeping state funds out of the region; Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, the leader of a massive camp inhabited by about 47,000 refugees; Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, who sets out to pursue Darfurian war criminals; Pablo Recalde, an Ecuadorian who has led efforts to bring food to the starving people of the area; and Hejewa Adam, a young mother who became an armed rebel after her 3-month-old son was killed by government forces.
The filmmakers gained unprecedented access to the region, garnering much footage that provides a vivid picture of the ongoing horrors. But it fails to deliver much in the way of background information and context, with the result that those not already familiar with the details of the situation might find themselves a bit lost.
While its activist subjects are indeed laudable, the film squanders much of its running time on ephemera. This is somewhat true with Sterling, who we see working his day job waiting tables in a Santa Monica restaurant, and very true of Cheadle, who admittedly gave needed star power to the project.
Interviewed at length to mournful piano under-scoring, the actor is seen hanging out with his kids, driving in his car, autographing his book and traveling across the world with his friend Clooney attempting to sway whatever politicians and government officials will meet them. It's a depressing reminder that in today's world, not even the effort to prevent an ongoing genocide is immune from the need for celebrity endorsement.
DARFUR NOW
Warner Independent Pictures
A Participant Prods. presentation of a
Crescendo/Mandalay Independent Pictures production
Credits:
Director-writer: Theodore Braun
Producers: Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Mark Jonathan Harris
Executive producers: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Omar Amanat, Matt Palmieri, Gary Greenebaum, Dean Schramm
Director of photography: Kirsten Johnson
Music: Graeme Revell
Co-producer: Lenore Zerman
Editor: Leonard Feinstein
Running time -- 99 minutes...
- 10/5/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Visitor
This review was written for the festival screening of "The Visitor".Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- In "The Visitor", actor-turned-filmmaker Tom McCarthy demonstrates that the critical acclaim for "The Station Agent" in 2003 was no fluke. The guy is a terrific storyteller, letting characters move into a story so naturally that the story develops and deepens his characters while their actions and behavior propel the story. "The Visitor" touches on both personal and political issues, but is never about those issues. McCarthy's story is about its people, a college professor lost in his own life and two, then three, illegal immigrants working hard in the United States, a country that can deport them at any moment.
Similar critical acclaim will drive "The Visitor" into specialty venues, where sophisticated adult audiences still appreciate good storytelling, and the potential exists for Independent Spirit Award noms. As "Station Agent" did for Peter Dinklage, "The Visitor" may generate audience awareness of the extraordinary talent of its lead actor, Richard Jenkins, who so disappears into his roles that people remember the face but not necessarily the name.
Jenkins plays Walter Vale, an economics professor specializing in globalization -- an ironic topic given the story he is about to enter. Since his wife's death, he continues to aimlessly inhabit a much too large suburban Connecticut house, where his only diversion is a struggle to learn the piano, a tribute to his late wife, a brilliant recording artist.
Forced to fill in for a colleague at a conference in Manhattan, he is startled to discover a young couple living in his seldom-used flat. A scam artist has "rented" the flat to Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Lebanese from Syria, and his wife Zainab (Danai Gurira), from Senegal. In a departure from what has become his abrupt and cold nature, Walter impulsively lets them stay until they find a place of their own.
Over the next few days, Walter and Tarek bond over music. Tarek plays the djembe, an African drum, in jazz bands. Walter is drawn to anything musical and soon Tarek is teaching him the rudiments of the instrument, much to the displeasure of his wife, a jewelry maker who despite Walter's kindness remains aloof from this American stranger.
A misunderstanding in the subway causes Tarek's arrest, which throws Zainab into turmoil: The two are undocumented immigrants. Tarek winds up in a detention center, but due to Zainab's status only Walter can visit him.
By the time Tarek's mother Mouna (the superb Israeli Arab actress Hiam Abbass) arrives from Detroit, Walter has hired an immigration lawyer and will soon take a leave of absence from the college. Mouna brought her young son to Michigan following the death of her journalist-husband at the hands of Syrian authorities, but the U.S. government never granted the family asylum. So she too is illegal.
Mouna reluctantly agrees to stay in Walter's flat while awaiting the outcome of her son's case. The two soon form an emotional connection, a mix of affection, compassion and anxiety over the fate of Mouna's son. Probably for the first time in years, these two feel a connection to the opposite sex, a feeling that is difficult to act on but strong nevertheless.
After two films, it's clear McCarthy is interested in how disparate people come together to form familial ties. He sees in these random intersections of lives a means to pull characters from self-imposed solitude and to establish the possibility and wonder of friendship. The film, of course, touches on immigration issues that occupy the headlines, but the film isn't about to deliver a lecture on immigration reform. McCarthy is smart enough to concentrate on the emotions his characters are going through and let the politics take care of itself.
As good as the actor-filmmaker is directing fellow actors, McCarthy is also a visual artist. In his Connecticut scenes, Jenkins is a figure lost in large spaces or crowds of indifferent people. In Manhattan, he looms large, occupying warm environments, whether playing drums in the park or making coffee in his apartment. He has become human again.
Jenkins is marvelous to watch as he shows how a man locked up in isolation slowly eases out of that shell through a love for music and new friendships. Abbass has much dignity and warmth as the cool yet frightened mother. Sleiman's vitality and gregariousness underscores the unfairness of the current system of blanket detentions of illegal immigrants. And Gurira displays the wariness of one whose life can be ripped away from her at any time.
McCarthy is firmly in control of every moment of his film, from the lines actors speak to the selection and use of locations. Even a couple of shots of an older man playing an ancient Chinese musical instrument in the subway speaks to his film's themes and characters.
THE VISITOR
Groundswell Prods./Participant Prods.
Writer/director: Tom McCarthy
Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London
Executive producers: Omar Amanat, Jeff Skoll, Ricky Strauss, Chris Salvaterra
Director of photography: Olivier Bokelberg
Production designer: John Paino
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Editor: Tom McCardle
Cast:
Walter: Richard Jenkins
Mouna: Hiam Abbass
Tarek: Haaz Sleiman
Zainab: Danai Gurira
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
TORONTO -- In "The Visitor", actor-turned-filmmaker Tom McCarthy demonstrates that the critical acclaim for "The Station Agent" in 2003 was no fluke. The guy is a terrific storyteller, letting characters move into a story so naturally that the story develops and deepens his characters while their actions and behavior propel the story. "The Visitor" touches on both personal and political issues, but is never about those issues. McCarthy's story is about its people, a college professor lost in his own life and two, then three, illegal immigrants working hard in the United States, a country that can deport them at any moment.
Similar critical acclaim will drive "The Visitor" into specialty venues, where sophisticated adult audiences still appreciate good storytelling, and the potential exists for Independent Spirit Award noms. As "Station Agent" did for Peter Dinklage, "The Visitor" may generate audience awareness of the extraordinary talent of its lead actor, Richard Jenkins, who so disappears into his roles that people remember the face but not necessarily the name.
Jenkins plays Walter Vale, an economics professor specializing in globalization -- an ironic topic given the story he is about to enter. Since his wife's death, he continues to aimlessly inhabit a much too large suburban Connecticut house, where his only diversion is a struggle to learn the piano, a tribute to his late wife, a brilliant recording artist.
Forced to fill in for a colleague at a conference in Manhattan, he is startled to discover a young couple living in his seldom-used flat. A scam artist has "rented" the flat to Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Lebanese from Syria, and his wife Zainab (Danai Gurira), from Senegal. In a departure from what has become his abrupt and cold nature, Walter impulsively lets them stay until they find a place of their own.
Over the next few days, Walter and Tarek bond over music. Tarek plays the djembe, an African drum, in jazz bands. Walter is drawn to anything musical and soon Tarek is teaching him the rudiments of the instrument, much to the displeasure of his wife, a jewelry maker who despite Walter's kindness remains aloof from this American stranger.
A misunderstanding in the subway causes Tarek's arrest, which throws Zainab into turmoil: The two are undocumented immigrants. Tarek winds up in a detention center, but due to Zainab's status only Walter can visit him.
By the time Tarek's mother Mouna (the superb Israeli Arab actress Hiam Abbass) arrives from Detroit, Walter has hired an immigration lawyer and will soon take a leave of absence from the college. Mouna brought her young son to Michigan following the death of her journalist-husband at the hands of Syrian authorities, but the U.S. government never granted the family asylum. So she too is illegal.
Mouna reluctantly agrees to stay in Walter's flat while awaiting the outcome of her son's case. The two soon form an emotional connection, a mix of affection, compassion and anxiety over the fate of Mouna's son. Probably for the first time in years, these two feel a connection to the opposite sex, a feeling that is difficult to act on but strong nevertheless.
After two films, it's clear McCarthy is interested in how disparate people come together to form familial ties. He sees in these random intersections of lives a means to pull characters from self-imposed solitude and to establish the possibility and wonder of friendship. The film, of course, touches on immigration issues that occupy the headlines, but the film isn't about to deliver a lecture on immigration reform. McCarthy is smart enough to concentrate on the emotions his characters are going through and let the politics take care of itself.
As good as the actor-filmmaker is directing fellow actors, McCarthy is also a visual artist. In his Connecticut scenes, Jenkins is a figure lost in large spaces or crowds of indifferent people. In Manhattan, he looms large, occupying warm environments, whether playing drums in the park or making coffee in his apartment. He has become human again.
Jenkins is marvelous to watch as he shows how a man locked up in isolation slowly eases out of that shell through a love for music and new friendships. Abbass has much dignity and warmth as the cool yet frightened mother. Sleiman's vitality and gregariousness underscores the unfairness of the current system of blanket detentions of illegal immigrants. And Gurira displays the wariness of one whose life can be ripped away from her at any time.
McCarthy is firmly in control of every moment of his film, from the lines actors speak to the selection and use of locations. Even a couple of shots of an older man playing an ancient Chinese musical instrument in the subway speaks to his film's themes and characters.
THE VISITOR
Groundswell Prods./Participant Prods.
Writer/director: Tom McCarthy
Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London
Executive producers: Omar Amanat, Jeff Skoll, Ricky Strauss, Chris Salvaterra
Director of photography: Olivier Bokelberg
Production designer: John Paino
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Editor: Tom McCardle
Cast:
Walter: Richard Jenkins
Mouna: Hiam Abbass
Tarek: Haaz Sleiman
Zainab: Danai Gurira
Running time -- 103 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Visitor
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO - In "The Visitor", actor-turned-filmmaker Tom McCarthy demonstrates that the critical acclaim for "The Station Agent" in 2003 was no fluke. The guy is a terrific storyteller, letting characters move into a story so naturally that the story develops and deepens his characters while their actions and behavior propel the story. "The Visitor" touches on both personal and political issues, but is never about those issues. McCarthy's story is about its people, a college professor lost in his own life and two, then three, illegal immigrants working hard in the United States, a country that can deport them at any moment.
Similar critical acclaim will drive "The Visitor" into specialty venues, where sophisticated adult audiences still appreciate good storytelling, and the potential exists for Independent Spirit Award noms. As "Station Agent" did for Peter Dinklage, "The Visitor" may generate audience awareness of the extraordinary talent of its lead actor, Richard Jenkins, who so disappears into his roles that people remember the face but not necessarily the name.
Jenkins plays Walter Vale, an economics professor specializing in globalization -- an ironic topic given the story he is about to enter. Since his wife's death, he continues to aimlessly inhabit a much too large suburban Connecticut house, where his only diversion is a struggle to learn the piano, a tribute to his late wife, a brilliant recording artist.
Forced to fill in for a colleague at a conference in Manhattan, he is startled to discover a young couple living in his seldom-used flat. A scam artist has "rented" the flat to Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Lebanese from Syria, and his wife Zainab (Danai Gurira), from Senegal. In a departure from what has become his abrupt and cold nature, Walter impulsively lets them stay until they find a place of their own.
Over the next few days, Walter and Tarek bond over music. Tarek plays the djembe, an African drum, in jazz bands. Walter is drawn to anything musical and soon Tarek is teaching him the rudiments of the instrument, much to the displeasure of his wife, a jewelry maker who despite Walter's kindness remains aloof from this American stranger.
A misunderstanding in the subway causes Tarek's arrest, which throws Zainab into turmoil: The two are undocumented immigrants. Tarek winds up in a detention center, but due to Zainab's status only Walter can visit him.
By the time Tarek's mother Mouna (the superb Israeli Arab actress Hiam Abbass) arrives from Detroit, Walter has hired an immigration lawyer and will soon take a leave of absence from the college. Mouna brought her young son to Michigan following the death of her journalist-husband at the hands of Syrian authorities, but the U.S. government never granted the family asylum. So she too is illegal.
Mouna reluctantly agrees to stay in Walter's flat while awaiting the outcome of her son's case. The two soon form an emotional connection, a mix of affection, compassion and anxiety over the fate of Mouna's son. Probably for the first time in years, these two feel a connection to the opposite sex, a feeling that is difficult to act on but strong nevertheless.
After two films, it's clear McCarthy is interested in how disparate people come together to form familial ties. He sees in these random intersections of lives a means to pull characters from self-imposed solitude and to establish the possibility and wonder of friendship. The film, of course, touches on immigration issues that occupy the headlines, but the film isn't about to deliver a lecture on immigration reform. McCarthy is smart enough to concentrate on the emotions his characters are going through and let the politics take care of itself.
As good as the actor-filmmaker is directing fellow actors, McCarthy is also a visual artist. In his Connecticut scenes, Jenkins is a figure lost in large spaces or crowds of indifferent people. In Manhattan, he looms large, occupying warm environments, whether playing drums in the park or making coffee in his apartment. He has become human again.
Jenkins is marvelous to watch as he shows how a man locked up in isolation slowly eases out of that shell through a love for music and new friendships. Abbass has much dignity and warmth as the cool yet frightened mother. Sleiman's vitality and gregariousness underscores the unfairness of the current system of blanket detentions of illegal immigrants. And Gurira displays the wariness of one whose life can be ripped away from her at any time.
McCarthy is firmly in control of every moment of his film, from the lines actors speak to the selection and use of locations. Even a couple of shots of an older man playing an ancient Chinese musical instrument in the subway speaks to his film's themes and characters.
THE VISITOR
Groundswell Productions/Participant Productions
Writer/director: Tom McCarthy
Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London
Executive producers: Omar Amanat, Jeff Skoll, Ricky Strauss, Chris Salvaterra
Director of photography: Olivier Bokelberg
Production designer: John Paino
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Editor: Tom McCardle
Cast:
Walter: Richard Jenkins
Mouna: Hiam Abbass
Tarek: Haaz Sleiman
Zainab: Danai Gurira
No MPAA rating, running time 103 minutes...
TORONTO - In "The Visitor", actor-turned-filmmaker Tom McCarthy demonstrates that the critical acclaim for "The Station Agent" in 2003 was no fluke. The guy is a terrific storyteller, letting characters move into a story so naturally that the story develops and deepens his characters while their actions and behavior propel the story. "The Visitor" touches on both personal and political issues, but is never about those issues. McCarthy's story is about its people, a college professor lost in his own life and two, then three, illegal immigrants working hard in the United States, a country that can deport them at any moment.
Similar critical acclaim will drive "The Visitor" into specialty venues, where sophisticated adult audiences still appreciate good storytelling, and the potential exists for Independent Spirit Award noms. As "Station Agent" did for Peter Dinklage, "The Visitor" may generate audience awareness of the extraordinary talent of its lead actor, Richard Jenkins, who so disappears into his roles that people remember the face but not necessarily the name.
Jenkins plays Walter Vale, an economics professor specializing in globalization -- an ironic topic given the story he is about to enter. Since his wife's death, he continues to aimlessly inhabit a much too large suburban Connecticut house, where his only diversion is a struggle to learn the piano, a tribute to his late wife, a brilliant recording artist.
Forced to fill in for a colleague at a conference in Manhattan, he is startled to discover a young couple living in his seldom-used flat. A scam artist has "rented" the flat to Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Lebanese from Syria, and his wife Zainab (Danai Gurira), from Senegal. In a departure from what has become his abrupt and cold nature, Walter impulsively lets them stay until they find a place of their own.
Over the next few days, Walter and Tarek bond over music. Tarek plays the djembe, an African drum, in jazz bands. Walter is drawn to anything musical and soon Tarek is teaching him the rudiments of the instrument, much to the displeasure of his wife, a jewelry maker who despite Walter's kindness remains aloof from this American stranger.
A misunderstanding in the subway causes Tarek's arrest, which throws Zainab into turmoil: The two are undocumented immigrants. Tarek winds up in a detention center, but due to Zainab's status only Walter can visit him.
By the time Tarek's mother Mouna (the superb Israeli Arab actress Hiam Abbass) arrives from Detroit, Walter has hired an immigration lawyer and will soon take a leave of absence from the college. Mouna brought her young son to Michigan following the death of her journalist-husband at the hands of Syrian authorities, but the U.S. government never granted the family asylum. So she too is illegal.
Mouna reluctantly agrees to stay in Walter's flat while awaiting the outcome of her son's case. The two soon form an emotional connection, a mix of affection, compassion and anxiety over the fate of Mouna's son. Probably for the first time in years, these two feel a connection to the opposite sex, a feeling that is difficult to act on but strong nevertheless.
After two films, it's clear McCarthy is interested in how disparate people come together to form familial ties. He sees in these random intersections of lives a means to pull characters from self-imposed solitude and to establish the possibility and wonder of friendship. The film, of course, touches on immigration issues that occupy the headlines, but the film isn't about to deliver a lecture on immigration reform. McCarthy is smart enough to concentrate on the emotions his characters are going through and let the politics take care of itself.
As good as the actor-filmmaker is directing fellow actors, McCarthy is also a visual artist. In his Connecticut scenes, Jenkins is a figure lost in large spaces or crowds of indifferent people. In Manhattan, he looms large, occupying warm environments, whether playing drums in the park or making coffee in his apartment. He has become human again.
Jenkins is marvelous to watch as he shows how a man locked up in isolation slowly eases out of that shell through a love for music and new friendships. Abbass has much dignity and warmth as the cool yet frightened mother. Sleiman's vitality and gregariousness underscores the unfairness of the current system of blanket detentions of illegal immigrants. And Gurira displays the wariness of one whose life can be ripped away from her at any time.
McCarthy is firmly in control of every moment of his film, from the lines actors speak to the selection and use of locations. Even a couple of shots of an older man playing an ancient Chinese musical instrument in the subway speaks to his film's themes and characters.
THE VISITOR
Groundswell Productions/Participant Productions
Writer/director: Tom McCarthy
Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Michael London
Executive producers: Omar Amanat, Jeff Skoll, Ricky Strauss, Chris Salvaterra
Director of photography: Olivier Bokelberg
Production designer: John Paino
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Editor: Tom McCardle
Cast:
Walter: Richard Jenkins
Mouna: Hiam Abbass
Tarek: Haaz Sleiman
Zainab: Danai Gurira
No MPAA rating, running time 103 minutes...
- 9/8/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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