Nowhere Special
John, a 35-year-old window cleaner, has dedicated his life to bringing up his 4-year-old son, Michael, after the child's mother left them soon after giving birth. When John is given only a few months left to live, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, determined to shield him from the terrible reality of the situation.
- Released: 2020-09-10
- Runtime: 96 minutes
- Genre: Drama
- Stars: Stella McCusker, Carol Moore, Nigel O'Neill, Eileen O'Higgins, Siobhán McSweeney, Paul Garrett, Hayley Russell, Valene Kane, Valerie O'Connor, Keith McErlean, Bernadette Brown, Caolan Byrne, Niamh McGrady, Rhoda Ofori-Attah, Peter Ballance, Libby McBride, Shiloh de Silva, Asher de Silva, Daniel Lamont, Paddy O’Reilly
- Director: Uberto Pasolini
Comments
- lithoaries - 12 May 2024
Sheer Brilliance
This movie made me cry my eyeliner off. It was all I could do to keep from out and out sobbing. All this was due to the stunning performances of the father and son. The father, at first just hoping his son would forget him and therefore not be emotionally scarred, eventually gives in to the fact that he won't be forgotten. Once he faces that, you have some of the best- and most tearful- parts of the movie. Scenes where they spend a great day at the amusement park, and the father fills up the son's memory box with pictures and envelopes like " For when you pass your driver's test"- it really hits home what a good and difficult thing he's doing. If the scene where he explains to his son what it'll be like after he's gone doesn't make you cry- you're not human! - decimatorcortez - 23 August 2022
wow
If you've never had a kid but still have a heart, you will like this movie.
If you've had kid(s) and loved them, this movie will move you.
Would be surprised if there was a dry eye in the house. - andrewbunney - 23 March 2022
Cringeworthy patriarchal cliches
John is a 34-year-old Irish window cleaner with a 4-year-old son, Michael. The child's Russian mother left them soon after giving birth.
John is now dying, so through the department of adoptions, he attempts to find a new, perfect family for Michael, at the same time shielding him from the reality of the situation. The film is necessarily episodic as we lurch from would-be-adopter auditions to meetings with social workers. But how can he judge a family from a brief encounter (although we as viewers are clearly expected to from the caricatures offered)?
Dad is a very tatty guy, and the kid for all his cuteness is bratty. Tatty has very limited emotional resources, intelligence and maturity. Bratty really wants a puppy so that has to be in the deal. They both wear baseball caps though they are in Ireland. We naturally wonder how the Russian mother arrived on the scene and why she left without her kid, but that is not for us to know. A scene which calls into question the quality of John's window cleaning work and response to a dissatisfied customer gives a clue. Of course, we can understand that Bratty has had a confusing time of his young life and is bound to be spoiled and indulged by Tatty, but that doesn't make him engaging or attractive so that you'd want to spend an hour and a half with him. The young actor's skills are not overwhelming, either.
In fact, it's all a bit blokey with the man and the 'wee-man', who is also a 'good man', as Tatty calls Bratty. It's not a big deal, but it made me wanna puke. The funfair montage was such a surprise (just kidding). Can you believe dodgem cars, fairy floss, a mirror maze even? Tatty actually doesn't have any symptoms of his impending death by whatever affliction he has (not for us to know).
And the broad Irish accents make some of the dialogue hard to follow. A really awful idea for a film, and the tattooed man/boy dad and his little man thing is such a patriarchal cliché.
Uberto Pasolini previously directed the excellent 2013 film Still Life, starring Eddie Marsan and Joanne Froggatt, but Nowhere Special is cringeworthy and uninteresting.
