In the genre of "independendent films" or "small movies with big themes," "The Visitor" takes home our Buzzflash Oscar.

Watch the trailer here.

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What begins as a profile of a brusque, cold, self-contained college professor evolves into a bittersweet exploration of self-transformation. The canvas of "The Visitor" is primarily New York City. The theme is how people from entirely different backgrounds can engage and change each other for the better.

Much has been said about the convincing, nuanced performance of Richard Jenkins ("Six Feet Under) as the stodgy, emotionally constrained Connecticut College professor who opens up to life like a flower over the course of the film, perhaps a rose with its bristly thorns. And Jenkins is pitch perfect.

But to us, Haaz Sleiman as an accomplished Syrian jazz bongo drum player is the heart of the film. He is in the United States illegally (due to a paperwork error of his mother), but never lets the random bureaucratic machine of America's immigration policy wear down his love of music, life, his mother and his girlfriend. Sleiman turns Jenkins from a monochrome person into someone with a technicolor of emerging emotions that have long been suppressed.

This is not a political film; it is an interpersonal drama of the highest order.

But one can't help thinking that NYC, in its diversity of stories, in its myriad possibilities of chance encounters, in its internationalness, can bring out what is best in our souls, if we open ourselves up to the potential for self-growth.

Nothing appears forced or lacking in credibility as "The Visitor" unfolds. It as if we are witnesses to a drama of renewal, loss and transformation that rings as true as if it were happening in our living rooms.

As one Internet reviewer noted:

"Just when it seems that film makers have sold out to the idea of blockbuster instant wealth, along comes the very quiet little film THE VISITOR, reassuring us that quality independent films are alive and well. Written and directed by actor Thomas McCarthy, whose only previous film in the role of writer/director was the incomparable THE STATION AGENT, this subdued little miracle of a film further examines the concept of isolated man searching for connection. The impact of this simple story of friendship and bonding stays with the viewer, permanently imprinted on our view of the global community."