Testo originale in inglese qui
John, a thirty-five year old single father and a mixed-race car wash, is an Irishman with only a few months to live. Preparing for what is coming, he spends most of his time trying to find a new family for his three year old son, Michael. Pressed between the need to say goodbye, the protective instinct and an impossible decision, he will seek the assistance of the Social Services' helpers, in particular Shona.
Exciting without falling into sentimentality, "Vicino a te" develops according to a discreet, simple and effective scenery, which has no other intention than to tell a story in the most realistic way possible. It is an opera that successfully avoids lapsing into drama and confronts paternity, death and the father-figure relationship, providing clear but painful guidance.
Edificant in its own way, it is a simple story, but told in a special way, which is attentive to the fatalism of Italian neorealism (Vittorio De Sica), as well as to the ravishing and documentary technique of the English (Mike Leigh) and European (Dardenne brothers) for social cinema.
The presupposition of the film, perhaps a bit predictable and which could lead the film into melodrama, is managed with a sober, attentive and clear narration, which allows to put in light the humanity of its characters. It is the witnesses and the small details of daily life that give a realistic tone to the story and that coinvolve.
The film features an excellent James Norton (Piccole donne, guerra e pace), the young Daniel Lamont as his son, and Eileen O'Higgins as Shona. The film is a great example of this, which helps to channel the audience's empathy towards what is about to happen and when it happens and the emotion is too high (last desires, last moments), these are moments that are managed, avoiding, wisely, to emphasize them. Former business banker and Luchino Visconti's nipote, Uberto Pasolini is a multi-awarded filmmaker, stage designer and producer who directs and writes this critically acclaimed social work (his third film as a filmmaker). A film close to a documentary, which successfully manages emotions without falling into sentimentality where the characters and the story are well harmonized creating a film of rare quality.
