One of the most moving films in last year's International Film Festival was the British-Italian co-production Nowhere Special.
It stars TV favourite James Norton – and for once that phrase “..as you’ve never seen him” is entirely appropriate.
Norton has never been better as an ailing Belfast window-cleaner trying to bring up a four-year-old boy on his own.
Simon Morris: Playing Michael is an extraordinary little kid called Daniel Lamont, who acts almost entirely with his face. And it's even more heartbreaking when it becomes clear John is looking around for new parents for Michael.
John has only months to live, and with no family of his own, he's dependent on Social Services to find a suitable family to take Michael after he's gone.
Every weekend, he and Michael visit another prospective family - all different, all potentially perfect or disastrous.
The film was written and directed by Italian-born - though long-time British resident - Umberto Pasolini. As the name suggests he is related to Italian film aristocracy, just not the one you'd expect.
He's the nephew of Pier Paolo Pasolini's colleague Luchino Visconti. He also produced The Full Monty, before turning his hand to directing.
I was very taken by Pasolini's last film - another one from the heart called Still Life, starring Eddie Marsan.
But this film tops that, I think. Who can't identify with a desperate father given just a few months to try and give his son a life?
We visit so many contrasting families - from would-be parents who are looking for carbon copies of themselves, to people who seem to treat fostering as a hobby, or others who simply think that they've been missing out on something trendy.
As the exasperated John says to Social Services - "Where do you find these people? I wouldn't give a dog to them."
And each weekend the options seem to get more and more limited.
Nowhere Special gives us only the barest explanations as to how John got into this fix - his own dismal childhood, and the hasty marriage to Michael's mother that was over almost as soon as Michael was born.
This isn't a Ken Loach "attack the system" story. The overworked Social Services staff are doing what they can, though it's young Shona who's the one going the extra mile to help John and Michael.
But in the end, how can you know? Not just what's going on behind the ingratiating smiles of the families you visit for one or two hours, but with Michael himself?
What can you tell - what should you tell - a four-year-old kid about the grim realities of life and death?
Of course, children often know more than you think. They certainly pick up words that keep being repeated, weekend after weekend. Words like "adopted"…
There are two destinations for this story - and the title Nowhere Special is particularly loaded, the sort of phrase you use to stop a child worrying.
First is which home Michael will be sent to. And second is finding a way for the child to understand life without John.
I suspect you won't need me telling you to stock up on hankies before you see Nowhere Special. You may be lured in by little Daniel Lamont, but the acting across the board - led by James Norton - is spot on.
On the strength of this film, and the previous Still Life, I'd like to encourage writer-director Umberto Pasolini to up his productivity a bit.
In the time it took him to make these two little gems, Adam Sandler produced 15 movies. Just saying.
