LIFE AFTER DEATH (NOWHERE SPECIAL)

 

Few films in 2021 have been as emotionally intense as Uberto Pasolini's 'Nowhere Special'.

The Italian director's Belfast drama tells the story of a terminally ill single dad making preparations for the future of his four year old son.

However the genius of Pasolini's film lies in the matter of fact way it tells its desperately sad story.

As a slice of realist cinema, it is exquisitely packaged.

But it also steadfastly refuses to use obvious narrative devices to manipulate its viewers' feelings.

In a riveting performance, English actor James Norton steps well out of his comfort zone to play John, a Belfast window cleaner who is devoted to his boy, Daniel Lamont's Michael.

When he isn't earning a living after dropping Michael off at pre-school, John is engaging adoption agents as they try to find a suitable home for his son.

Michael's birth mother left him for her homeland not long after he was born, leaving no address of where she was going.

Writer director Pasolini guides us through the process of finding the right adopted parents as John and Michael visit a series of homes.

Valene Kane and Keith McErlean's well to do couple Celia and Philip are first up, followed by Siobhan McSweeney and Chris Corrigan's modest working class Pam and Gerry who have been foster parents and now have an adopted daughter.

Nigel O'Neill and Rhoda Ofori-Attah's David and Sharon offer a loving, if slightly chaotic mix of birth and adopted children. 

Roisin Gallagher's big hearted Judy lives in a slightly shambolic apartment and aspires to be a single mum but has her own sad back story.

Niamh McGrady and Caolan Byrne's Lorraine and Trevor are struggling with their own issues of not having their own child to raise.

Assisting John's quest for a new home for Michael is Eileen O'Higgins' empathetic adoption agent Shona.

However, as the search rumbles on, the more conflicted Norton's character gets as the defining nature of his decision for his son starts to weigh heavily on his shoulders.

Pasolini and Norton gradually reveal the emotional toll exacted on John who for much of the film is a gentle soul but has moments when he loses his cool - including a delicious egg throwing incident after he encounters a particularly rude customer on his window cleaning rounds.

As he starts to divest himself of his personal belongings and prepares a memory box for Michael, the urgency and importance of John's decision starts to really hit home.

'Nowhere Special' is a wonderful exercise in subtle, disciplined, emotionally engaging cinema.

Pasolini and his cinematographer Marius Panduru let the action unfold in front of the camera, without resorting to any major histrionics.

As a consequence, the story feels authentic and grounded and the performances of the cast are instinctive.

Norton seems a world away from the kind of roles that have made him a viable contender in the race to be the next James Bond.

Sporting a baseball cap and tattoos, it is a humble, career best performance which never veers into the condescending and he masters the Belfast brogue pretty well.

His tender rapport with Lamont is impressive, recalling Liam Neeson's work on Colin Gregg's often overlooked 1986 movie 'Lamb'.

'Nowhere Special' is also reminiscent of another Neeson movie - Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D'Sa's powerful breast cancer drama 'Ordinary Love' with Lesley Manville - sporting a similar emotional rawness.

Lamont is also terrific and O'Higgins turns in her best screen performance to date.

However none of the cast - Kane, McErlean, McSweebey, Corrigan, O'Neill, Ofori-Attah, Gallagher, McGrady or Byrne - put a foot wrong.

Stella McCusker is also a joy to watch as a customer of John's who he confides in.

Subtly edited by Masahiro Hirakubo and Saska Simpson, 'Nowhere Special' avoids all the traps of a Hallmark weepie by just letting its events unfold.

Even though the story is set in Northern Ireland, it is neo-realist cinema in the classic Italian style - making great use of its cast and its Belfast locations.

As the camera observes events, Pasolini doesn't let his lead or the rest of his cast overdo their moments of angst.

Norton and him just give us fleeting glimpses of that turmoil in this compassionate movie.

And the film is all the more powerful for it.

('Nowhere Special' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on July 16, 2021)