New Statesman reviews The Visitor

Music gathers.

[Walter] starts hanging out and learning the djembe with Tarek, who presents him with a Fela Kuti CD. A corny touch, you might think, just like the moment when Zainab gives Walter a funky African bracelet, but McCarthy gets much mileage out of it. Kuti's music starts jostling for space on the soundtrack with the film's genteel piano score (by Jan A P Kaczmarek), reflecting the influence that Tarek is having on Walter. And it's somehow perfect that we discover Tarek has also sent a CD to his beloved mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass) - it's the cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera, which he picked out to give her a taste of his new neighbourhood.