Richard Jenkins shines in Director Tom McCarthy's story of a solitary Connecticut college professor drawn into an immigration drama facing a trio of undocumented Americans in New York City. While primarily an examination of the four distinct individuals, McCarthy's film is also a striking examination of post 9/11 immigration issues. Backed by Participant Productions and Michael London's Groundswell Productions, McCarthy told indieWIRE that he took a journalistic approach when developing the movie, visiting American detention centers, including one just minutes outside the city in Elizabeth, NJ. A self-described "political and social wonk." he admitted, "With everything going on in the world, it was hard for me to detach and just go make a character movie."

In the film, Jenkin's middle-aged widower develops a brighter outlook on life after he connects with a Syrian musician. Once the Middle Eastern man is profiled and detained by undercover officials, he is sent to a mysterious Queens detention center where the two people he is closest to, his mother and his girlfriend -- both immigrants -- can't visit him. The college professor is the only link back to his family.

"I never wanted it to be an issue movie," noted McCarthy during Monday's conversation with indieWIRE, who explained that he worked on mutiple revisions to his script so that the story would not be too obvious or one-sided. "I wanted to stand back and not look at this as an issue or legislation, but instead with a humanistic approach." Continuing, McCarthy said, "Its a character story first, thats what I do best."

[A scene from Tom McCarthy's "The Visitor." Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival.]