NR | 1h 36m | Drama | 2024
Northern Ireland provides the setting for this stirring and bittersweet drama about a terminally ill single father looking to find a suitable home for his little son after he dies.
Wisely avoiding too much prologue or backstory, Italian writer and director Uberto Pasolini (“Machan,” “Still Life”) introduces us to John (James Norton), a professional window washer in the final stages of a nameless disease, whose relationship with his preschool son Michael (Daniel Lamont) is just a hair shy of idyllic.
But John is not a widower, and Mr. Pasolini waits until near the halfway point to reveal who Michael’s mother is and why she’s not involved in their lives, which adds a further sting to an already complicated situation.
Multiple Candidates
First up is a well-to-do married couple with two biological children that clearly has the means to care for Michael, but we get just the slightest whiff that they view kids as accessories. Next are an older husband and wife who, while not as financially flush, seem vastly more capable of authentic love. As both are infertile, they’ve been foster parents for a good while—something that troubles John.Another possibility arrives in the form of a never-married, childless woman in her mid-to-late 30s who doesn’t put on false airs or gives a striving-for-perfection, “best face forward” first impression. She certainly has her flaws (don’t we all?), but she’s authentic and genuine.
There are other candidates with varying degrees of desirability to follow. While some viewers might get the impression that John is waiting (likely in vain) until he meets the perfect guardian, others may feel that he wants as many options as possible before making the most important decision of his (and Michael’s) life.
Showing up with welcomed regularity is Rosemary (Stella McCusker), John’s long-widowed neighbor who offers sage dollops of wisdom to him only when he asks, which is frequently. The senior citizen Rosemary and her late husband never had children, and she states that only because of her advanced age does she not toss her hat into the candidate pool.
Her advanced age notwithstanding, Rosemary’s everyday familiarity with John and Michael would offset her age. How many well-adjusted people among us were raised by their level-headed, common-sense grandparents, or those of about the same age?
Explain It to a Child
To put a half-full spin on a half-empty situation, Mr. Pasolini uses the lyric (from the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”) “takes a sad song and makes it better” in a tasteful manner. The themes in “Nowhere Special” are similar to those depicted in “Love Story,” “Terms of Endearment,” “Beaches,” and “Brian’s Song.” These are movies wherein death is a fait accompli, but with one huge difference from “Nowhere Special”: All of the principal characters in those movies are adults who clearly understand the concept of death, and don’t need to explain it to a young child being left behind.In ways that might not seem initially clear or fair, John is being afforded something of a relative luxury. He’s fully aware of his fate and has just enough time to determine the future of his child before he passes.
A Child’s Wisdom
What struck me most about “Nowhere Special” was the care Mr. Pasolini put into the spare dialogue and nonverbal communication between John and Michael. It’s clear early on that Michael knows something’s amiss, yet he shows remarkable restraint in making his opinions vocal. He doesn’t freak out, pout, or become petulant, although these reactions would be completely understandable given his age and the circumstances.There is a huge difference between “sentiment” and “sentimentality.” The former is real while the latter is largely manufactured, yet both strive for the same result: emotional manipulation. “Nowhere Special” is top-heavy with sentiment in the best possible manner, as it presents a situation with no easy answers while acknowledging core human emotions and making the best of bad circumstances.
This is not a “feel good” movie according to the most basic definition of that term, but it succeeds admirably in portraying human behavior at its most caring, loving, and forward-thinking.
