NOWHERE SPECIAL (2024) MOVIE REVIEW
Updated: Jul 16
Quite the contrary to the film's title, James Norton is truly special in this tender and heartbreaking portrait of a working class, single father with only months to live, looking for the perfect home for his shy but adorable tike, giving him the life he never had the opportunity to have.
by Nate Lemann
2024 now has its lead contender for Best Actor with James Norton, giving a career best performance in Uberto Pasolini's heartbreaking tale of a dying working class father trying to set his son up for a better life. We meet Norton's John at his day job, a local window washer in his small Irish town. It's a job that allows him to peer into the lives of more well off clients and you can see in his eyes the wheels turning: what if he can give that sort of life to his adorably shy 4-year old Michael (the magical Daniel Lamont)?
You see, John is dying and starting to show the signs of a disease that is wasting away at his strength but not his fortitude. John himself grew up in foster care and doesn't want to cosign Michael to the same fate of few and far between life options. John is proactive, working with social services to put Michael up for adoption once he is gone. We watch as John and Michael meet with numerous potential candidates, John focused at first on two-parent homes with the means to put Michael in position to have a good and more successful life. Some candidates tick John's boxes; some severely don't.
What is complicating matters is John's refusal to let Michael in on what is happening to him and why they are meeting with all these nice people. Michael just wants to be with his father (and to have a puppy). The social workers want John to engage with Michael and even build him a memory box so one day he may better remember his loving father. John can't reckon to do that, thinking it would be better for his child to just one day forget he or his absent mother ever existed, only knowing his life with his new family. Norton really shines in these moments, never going overly sentimental, carrying himself with a large reserve quiet dignity and grace. Norton and Pasolini wisely avoid the overly melodramatic pitfalls of sickness dramas, playing John as a man resigned to his fate but not giving on his son's just yet.
As the story goes on, we can tell Michael is really not jelling with his new parent/family options and this confounds John: does he not know his son well enough to make this monumental decision for him? Is it right to let this life-altering choice come down to what John thinks would be best for his little boy and not what he truly wants?
I won't lie: this movie will break you. It may have a quieter pace and tone than some of the bigger blockbusters of the year but hell if doesn't pack more of an emotional punch than all of those films combined. Pasolini has truly crafted a genuinely powerful slice-of-life tale that doesn't go for the overly dramatic or cheap manipulations of a sickness drama. There are no huge third act reveals or bedside confessionals. Instead, Pasolini lives in the quiet moments, the tender moments of father-son bonding to break every ounce of your emotional reserve. A moment that sticks out is John's birthday cake scene, where they load up his cake with 34 candles and Michael just calmly hands him candle 35, the candle he won't ever get to use, and Norton gives it the far off stare of a man who knows this will be his last birthday. That scene nearly destroyed me.
A movie like this can be rare in today's movie landscape but if there is any justice in this industry, Norton will be a lead contender for this year's Best Actor race: a performance of raw grace, integrity, and unfathomable strength. Watch and marvel at it.
FINAL RATING: 4/5 Stars (Powerhouse performance in a nuanced and exquisite character study)
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