Nowhere Special

It had all the potential to be a weepy you'd avoid, but it's really quite sensitive, powerful, and beautifully acted.

For a film about loneliness and death, it’s tender, intelligent and life-affirming without ever being maudlin and mawkish. A rare and distinguished film indeed.

Intimate rather than maudlin, this sensitive, vulnerable feature shapes into a beautiful testament to the undaunting love between a father and a son, and the ultimate gift that an ill dad can give his child.

Lighter moments aside, “Nowhere Special” doesn’t sugarcoat its heartbreaking premise. The film is essentially a two-hander between Norton and Lamont, both of whom give excellent, complementary performances.

Writer-director Uberto Pasolini lets all of this play out without grandstanding. The filmmaker doesn't embellish.

There are so many ways to go wrong with this story, which we are told was inspired by an unidentified real father and son. [Pasolini] does not let that happen, relying on the most ordinary details to take on greater and greater weight.

The story is inherently heartbreaking but Pasolini doesn’t drown the film with bleakness. Norton is exceptional here and the father-son relationship feels authentic.

‘Nowhere Special’ is a beautiful, encouraging story about the devoted bond between father and son but one wrapped in ever-present heartbreak and vulnerabilities.

You could argue Nowhere Special is a little too spare, so tastefully restrained it almost misses touching our emotions. But that tactic pays off when, in the end, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved to tears.

This is a lovely film that has more to say about love than it does about dying. This perfect film will stay with you.