When Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins), a widowed economics professor, travels to New York for a conference, he is surprised to discover that a young couple has been living in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Jekesai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, are illegal immigrants with nowhere else to go. Reluctantly, Walter allows them to stay, and eventually forms a close bond with Tarek, as the young man teaches him how to play the hand drum. After Tarek is arrested in the subway and held for deportation, Walter is compelled by his renewed passion for life and sense of purpose to help his new friend through his desperate situation. Directed by Thomas McCarthy. With Hiam Abbass. Categories: Comedy, Drama, Independent Film. Year: 2007.
Haaz Sleiman in The Visitor