The Visitor (2007)

It's never too late to find a new rhythm, even when you've stopped listening for one. Tom McCarthy's "The Visitor" stars Richard Jenkins in an Oscar-nominated performance as Walter Vale, a widowed Connecticut economics professor who has been drifting through life on autopilot. When he reluctantly travels to New York for a conference, he discovers a young couple living in the Manhattan apartment he rarely uses: Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian musician, and his girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira), a jewelry maker from Senegal. The two have been scammed into renting it, but instead of throwing them out, Walter lets them stay, and forms a deep and unexpected bond with them. Tarek begins teaching him to play the African djembe drum, and Walter rediscovers a passion he thought he'd lost long ago. But when Tarek is detained over his immigration status, Walter feels compelled to help his new friends, especially after Tarek's mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), arrives looking for her son.