Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

Following his very well-received The Station Agent (screened by KFC in 2004) Thomas McCarthy's second film centres on Walter Vale, a solemn economics professor masterfully portrayed by Richard Jenkins. Finding himself in New York on business he discovers that two illegal immigrants, Tarek and Zainab, have been tricked into renting his apartment. They strike up an unusual friendship, but the outside world intervenes (unlike The Station Agent) when it transpires that Tarek is an illegal immigrant as well as tenant. We soon become immersed in McCarthy's wry humour and quiet wit, and there are some wonderful moments – although the characters are just as memorable as the plot when the whole piece is weighed in the balance.