Six Feet Under's Richard Jenkins plays Walter Vale, a square, stiff , bald, droll widower teaching at a Connecticut school.  He's not into his job, and doesn't have much of a personal life.  His late wife was a well-known classical pianist, and Walter quickly burns through piano teachers in what we can only imagine is a last-ditch effort to follow through on a promise he made long ago to learn to play the instrument.  When he reluctantly agrees to attend a conference in New York City, Walter enters his Manhattan apartment for the first time in many years only to discover a pair of illegal immigrants taking up residence there.  After some initial awkwardness, he agrees to let them temporarily stay, and quickly develops a close bond with Syrian drummer Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), who teaches the very white, very uncoordinated Walter to play.  But it wouldn't be a film without something bad happening, like Tarek getting arrested.

The Visitor isn't as strong a picture as Agent, mostly because it feels a bit contrived in some places (especially the immaculate, unused two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, and Tarek's worrying mother [Hiam Abbass] being both a widow and a knockout), but the performances are very strong and the film is otherwise very well-written.

Silent Light - Carlos Reygadas won Cannes' Golden Camera award in 2002 with Japón, and Light took home this year's Jury Prize for telling the very unusual tale of a Mennonite family near Chihuahua, Mexico.  Patriarch Johan (Cornelio Wall Fehr) has been stepping out on wife Esther (Miriam Toews) with a fellow Mennonite named Marianne (María Pankratz), but is at least honest enough to be upfront about the affair.  The situation isn't dealt with via screaming and hand-wringing.  Nothing is thrown, including physical objects, or hurtful slurs.  And if you think that's difficult to believe, wait until you see what happens when Esther dies.  This is one slow moving train, as viewers of Japón might expect, but it's also gorgeous on both a visual and a spiritual level.

Nightwatching - It's been 11 years since I've seen a Peter Greenaway film (The Pillow Book), and I'd be happy to let another decade pass before I see another.  It seems like every year, there's a Festival film that puts me to sleep amidst a cinema packed full of eager viewers; then when I wake up, the place is almost completely empty, even though the picture is only half-over.  This is 2007's version of that film.

Nightwatching is movie about the famous artist Rembrandt van Rijn, who is played here by Martin Freeman.  You might not know who Martin Freeman is, so I'll tell you: He was the original version of Jim Halpert on the British version of The Office.  And he's not making some sort of surprising turn as a dramatic actor.  No, Freeman plays Rembrandt like everything else Freeman has ever done.  It would be like making a biopic about Michelangelo and casting Benny Hill in the lead role.  And it only takes about eight seconds before Greenaway makes Freeman show his cock.

Jellyfish - This year's Golden Camera (for best first feature) winner at Cannes was this lean little Israeli flick which might take longer to describe than it takes to watch it.  The action takes place in Tel Aviv, where we meet a handful of characters whose lives randomly intersect in unexpected ways.  Batya (Sarah Adler) works for a wedding caterer and was just dumped by her boyfriend before she sees a cute but mysterious little girl literally walk out of the sea wearing only an inflatable donut.  Newlyweds Michael (Gera Sandler) and Keren (Noa Knoller) have their honeymoon interrupted when the bride breaks her ankle.  A Philippine immigrant caregiver (Ma-nenita De Latorre) is hired to look after the mean mother of a stage actress (Ilanit Ben Yaakov).  Very unusual, but very likeable and quite colorful, as well.

With Your Permission - Jan (Lars Brygmann) is the kind of guy you might laugh at just by looking at him.  He looks like Alan Rickman in a moustache and mullet wig, but acts all hyper and flail-ly like Roberto Benigni.  Jan manages a restaurant on a ferry that runs between Stockholm and his Copenhagen home, and he rules with an iron fist.  Ignore the rule about sharing food of your partner's plate and he'll call the cops.  We get a little insight into Jan's temper when he goes home and is verbally and physically abused by his apparently crazy wife, Anna (Sidse Babett Knudsen).  Tired of seeing his employee come to work with black eyes and bruises, Jan's boss forces him into therapy.  The reluctant Jan is too embarrassed to say what type of therapy he needs, and accidentally is sent to anger management class, where he befriends two hammerhead mechanics.  A murder plot is hatched, opera is involved, and that's exactly the type of thing you'd expect from a script from Dogme general Anders Thomas Jensen.  Permission was directed by Dogme actress Paprika Steen (Aftermath), and if you're into off-beat dark comedies, then welcome home, lad.  This is another strong outing from Jensen, who has gone from being an Oscar-winning short filmmaker to cranking out the most original Danish films of the last decade.

The Mourning Forest - Naomi Kawase's film won Cannes' Grand Prize of the Festival (?) and focuses on a relationship between two very different people.  Shigeki (Shigeki Uda) is a senior citizen with one of those demented looks that makes you think he might start smearing you or the walls with his own shit.  His wife has been dead for 33 years, which is some sort of important milestone that probes him into surprising action.  Machiko (Machiko Ono) is a timid new employee at the nursing home where Shigeki lives -- it's set on the edge of a huge forest, into which Shigeki seems quite insistent into escaping.  Using an afternoon field trip with Machiko as a rouse, Shigeki bolts with a mysterious package tucked under his arm.  Has he totally lost it, or is he really up to something?  And what's all this about Machiko's guilt over the recent loss of her child?  Don't worry -- It all comes together in the lush forest.  Beautifully photographed, but Uda steals the show as Shigeki.

Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg's latest is, like A History of Violence, about a character played by Viggo Mortensen who is capable of kicking all manner of ass, yet chooses not to until his back is squarely up against the wall.  This time, Mortensen is Nikolai, the right-hand man for the number one son (Vincent Cassel) of London's biggest Russian Mafia family.  You can tell Nikolai is much more level-headed than his erratically dangerous boss, but that definitely doesn't make him any less scary.  Sparks fly when Nikolai spots Anna (Naomi Watts), a hospital midwife trying to find someone to translate the diary of a young Russian girl who recently died during childbirth.  Unfortunately for Anna, this benevolent action puts her into a world of danger she never knew existed.

You know those awesome beatdowns Mortensen's character administered in Violence?  Shockingly graphic but unbelievably cool?  There are more here, but this time, Mortensen is buck-ass naked, with his junk flapping all over the place.  Promises might not be quite as good as the magnificent Violence, but it's damn close, and is still one of the best taut thrillers you'll see in 2007.