The Visitor Review (KVIFF 2025)
From the outset, it’s a poem. Starting off as a well-shot home video, becoming a feeling, ending up as a smile. Indeed, The Visitor is a quiet smile. If you have restless feet or are looking for entertainment, you will probably have the urge to leave your seat, but if you give in, porous as it is, this film will take you to a calm, contemplative environment, real and quirky, and will leave you be with a quiet and sticky smile on your face
Following the birth of his child and the death of his father, Danielius, in his early 30s, is visiting his hometown to sell his apartment. Now based in Norway, Lithuania seems an exotic place of simple tranquillity. Danielius is casually drawn to it. He is eager to roam the streets aimlessly, devour ice cream, and join the company of the familiar faces he bumps into. He is not after anything in particular, besides residing as much as possible in the state of limbo this trip is providing him with. Which he welcomes with open arms, not greedily but gently. Anyway, no one asks any difficult questions, and neither does the camera. While also no one demands anything (including his Norwegian wife, who is left to deal with the lingering pressure of a newborn baby and a newly acquired apartment). Is this the remedy to a constantly busy and troublesome life?
Vytautas Katkus, in his debut feature film, doesn’t seek an easy story and doesn’t succumb to the technical showmanship expected of someone in his position. His dialogues are laconic and impeccable, and his framing is inch-perfect. For all its modesty, The Visitor doesn’t rely much on symbolism, besides the red apples that gather around Danielius each time he swims, multiplying with each visit. The Visitor holds straight in its integrity and builds from there, delivering a genuine contemporary tale of the quietness of one’s mind. Do not get this wrong; there is nothing dull about this picture. On the contrary, humour sneaks around, in the small interactions and the unpolished gestures, and the fun (real) facts that are dressing up a story true of its times. Solitude, generally confused for loneliness, is present and experienced, yet unapproachable. Solitude surfaces as well most sharply in the moments we’re asked to, or suddenly find ourselves, shifting social roles, often unprepared. It is not clear whether Danielius doesn’t want to leave his birth land or doesn’t want to go to his new homeland, but what is certain is his lust for companionship on the way.
Katkus is not alone in this endeavour. In his credits, you’ll find the current leading filmmaking force of Lithuania: Marija Kavtaradze (director of Slow, 2019) co-writing the script and Laurynas Bareisa (director of Drowning Dry, 2024, and of the short Dummy, 2020) editing the image. Next to whom, Darius Silenas took up the challenge and left his regular editorial hat behind the camera to bear the delicate character of Danielius The Visitor is indeed the perfect festival film, sensitive but not fragile, meditative, and full of niche surprises. The kind of film that doesn’t make a fuss, invites different readings, and, most importantly, leaves you feeling.
★★★★
The Visitor had its premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, competing in the Crystal Globe Competition.
The Visitor (Svečias) / Dir: Vytautas Katkus / Totem Films / Lithuania, Norway, Sweden
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