Nowhere Special: Movie Review

Cast: James Norton, Daniel Lamont, Eileen O'Higgins

Director: Uberto Pasolini

With an end title card explaining how this was inspired by a true story, director Uberto Pasolini's Nowhere Special clearly has come from the heart.

Grantchester's James Norton stars as John, a window-cleaning single dad trying to find a better life for his young son Michael (Lamont, just about adorable enough, without pushing it too far).

Clad in the same clothes, while his son wears new outfits daily, John's slowly dying and stuck in the adoption system, meeting prospective parents-to-be for his son, while his mother is AWOL.

But as each visit takes place, John finds himself facing an insurmountable decision - and finding each piece of the jigsaw harder to assemble as time runs out.

Nowhere Special is not a mawkish film, nor is it one that overplays its hand.

It's in its quieter moments that the film comes to life - in its father-son interactions, and in the loaded cutaways that Pasolini takes of other dads helming their kids to football success in the park, or playing Spider-Man dress up or just being out as a family. Every piece of seeming B-roll cut scene is laden with meaning, and resonance.

In the centre of what could be a manipulative maelstrom and the meeting vignettes is the grounded and human performance of Norton. It's a powerhouse turn that helps paper through some of the drama cracks and the pacing issues that begin to pile up in this deftly-observed little drama.

The realism is coursing through this film's veins, and even though one or two of the meetings are a little over-egged, and one interaction is OTT, this is a film that never loses sight of the agonising decision ahead, but equally never makes it the film's sole focus.

While the final shot will destroy those of softer hearts, there is a feeling the drama's painted itself into a corner, and its resolution is a little too obvious in its revelations. That said, there is a power and compassion in Nowhere Special, and its destination and journey are anything but where its title lays out.