"Nowhere Special" by Uberto Pasolini (2022)

This was no brainer, no deliberate choosing - the moment I read about it, I knew I want to see it in cinema and share with friends - this time I have invited two of them and listened as they sniffed left and right of me. It was more about the subject - terminally ill single father is interviewing and auditioning childless families who are willing to adopt his little son - than about the names involved, since I was not terribly familiar with either director Uberto Pasolini nor the main actor James Norton. But the subject appealed to me and I thought, finally, a movie that is not about special effects and Marvel superheroes.

The best and the most amazing thing about the movie (besides acting, which was brilliant as expected in British movies) is how much restraint and finesse the director used to deal with potentially maudlin story that could have been sugary and sentimental, if not handled properly. Almost anybody you could think of, would milk sentimentality, children's tears, deliberately somber, symphonic music and every old trick in the book (I shudder how horrible it could have been if done in Hollywood) but Uberto Pasolini approaches it differently, clear-eyed and almost matter-of-factly - nowhere in the movie we hear what exactly James Norton is ill from or anything that might unbalance the story - we simply know that he is very sick and will die soon - we see it in his gaunt face, in his behaviour and worry what will happen to the little boy after he dies. That is why he relies on social services to put him in touch with potential foster parents who are unfortunately one more alarming than another. And the little boy is neither teary or artificial, he is simply a little boy who is too small to understand anything and his red balloon had just flied away. There are many beautiful moments of tenderness between them and everything is million times more poignant, since we understand that Norton purposely creates memories for his son, using what is left of the time to make him happy. Everything they do together - reading the children's book, grocery shopping, even just walking to a school together, are moments to treasure. For me this is masterpiece and ranks up there with the best of Mike Leigh movies. 

A visit

My niece visited town and I was delighted that I could show her around during the weekend. This was the very first time we saw each other after 4 years since I have arrived here and in many ways it felt as it was only yesterday - but in fact, lot of things changed for both of us and there was also experience of global epidemic. I did what I could considering it was only two days and showed her some of my favourite corners here, there and everywhere - beautiful springtime was on our side and it was lovely to be outdoors, much more than indoors (I always say "museums are for the rainy days") even thought I showed her several places that were my old favourites. And than I caught myself being inside of museum and looking trough the windows - these places always have such wonderful locations and perhaps one also needs some relief looking elsewhere. And I thought "no matter how beautiful, nothing inside this building matches the beauty of the nature outside". 

I have known her since she was a baby, so naturally I am very happy that she grew into such a wonderful, grown up and positive person. I have never ever patronised her and always considered her to be my equal, so it was wonderful to have her around and listen her opinions & stories. At one point I even talked a bit about my own family past and memories just pored out, like from Pandora's box. It must be for that reason that several days later I suddenly remembered my mother, who is at this point long gone (in fact, I have lived longer without her than with her around). I was out on the walk and street cleaners have cooling the pavements with cold water showers, when kids on the bikes squeaked in delight - one of those magic moments that you either recognise or not - my eyes teared a bit from sheer pleasure of being in the moment. And suddenly I remembered my mother who was very much like me, she used to get moved by anything and was crying very easily (to my biggest annoyance). I was very much annoyed with this as a teenager but funny enough I recognise it in myself now as a grown up person. The power of genes is fantastic and undeniable. 

"The Hungry Moon" by Ramsey Campbell (1986)

 

It is interesting that many readers compliment Ramsey Campbell on his "slow burning" style, where in fact I found it extremely meandering and slow moving. It bothered me so much, that I had to leave book for a while and return another time, when I felt compelled to finish darn thing simply because I started it. There is just too much filler here and way too many characters who are neither memorable nor actually important at all - I did finish it eventually and there were bright moments of inspiration, but its not like I'm rushing to read his next book. 

The plot is vaguely interesting, kind of variation on "The Wicker Man" where sleepy little town falls under the spell of religious fanatics and some creepy supernatural elements cook it from there - I seriously wonder why I had such trouble reading this and suspect that internet had simply affected my attention because I am just not relaxed enough to completely switch off and read the books like before. Or I need to be somewhere in the mountains, far away from Wi Fi. It took me forever to finish this and its not as it was too complicated or anything, it was just extremely slow. 

Gustav Klimt re-discovered

There is a fantastic exhibition at the moment, going on in Amsterdam's Westerpark - one of those old factory buildings re-purposed into art space (the whole city if full of these examples, churches that are not churches, factories that are now cinemas, etc, etc) and its currently attraction nr.1 for everybody - it is the latest visual spectacle where famous art is projected on the walls, ceilings, floors and all over. I have heard about these happenings with work of Van Gogh but this particular exhibition is all about art of Austrian Gustav Klimt who is one of the first artists to bravely break away from classicist style and break into what today we call "modern art". I recall visiting world’s largest collection of Klimt’s paintings in Vienna (Belvedere palace) which was spectacular and it showed how much he changed from fairly beautiful and elegant classicist painter into completely different, equally dazzling, modern artists. This is where I have seen his world famous "The Kiss" standing in front of me and being delighted by the whole moment - what is not shown on the countless reproductions is that lovers stand in a bare, empty space and the moment of the kiss is the moment when flowers started blooming around them (or at least this is how I feel about it). 

There is a fantastic exhibition at the moment, going on in Amsterdam's Westerpark - one of those old factory buildings re-purposed into art space (the whole city if full of these examples, churches that are not churches, factories that are now cinemas, etc, etc) and its currently attraction nr.1 for everybody - it is the latest visual spectacle where famous art is projected on the walls, ceilings, floors and all over. I have heard about these happenings with work of Van Gogh but this particular exhibition is all about art of Austrian Gustav Klimt who is one of the first artists to bravely break away from classicist style and break into what today we call "modern art". I recall visiting world’s largest collection of Klimt’s paintings in Vienna (Belvedere palace) which was spectacular and it showed how much he changed from fairly beautiful and elegant classicist painter into completely different, equally dazzling, modern artists. This is where I have seen his world famous "The Kiss" standing in front of me and being delighted by the whole moment - what is not shown on the countless reproductions is that lovers stand in a bare, empty space and the moment of the kiss is the moment when flowers started blooming around them (or at least this is how I feel about it). 

Now, what is interesting is that this is after all not a museum but a public spectacle, almost like a circus. Created to attract a lot of visitors and sell a lots of tickets. Consequently, it attracts huge crowds that don't give a fig about Gustav Klimt or Vienna or music of Franz Lehár - I wouldn't go so far to call them a mob, but there was certainly a common element that could not stand still and lots of over-excited children running around, up and down the stairs, behaving like this is a huge playground. So that took a bit from the atmosphere, I was constantly aware of the crowd around me and wished that perhaps I have visited some other, less popular day. And even though the idea was phenomenal, I also understand the creators (designers?) played with pieces of paintings like in some giant kaleidoscope  - the patterns were exciting but often they had nothing to do with Gustav Klimt himself. Its like Aliens came to planet Earth and decided to create exhibition of human art, but put everything topsy turvy since they don't understand human anatomy. I wonder is this a spectacle of the future times? Because if you emptied Viennese Belvedere palace and brought everything here, even the original art would not attract such audiences like this visual spectacle, smoke and mirrors. Very interesting idea.