The protagonist of this story is T.D. Lemon Novecento, a name coming from "Tano Damato Limoni," an ad on the cardboard-made cradle where he was found, with no ID, at the entrance of the first class of the ship. A gesture of hope and desperation by third-class immigrants wishing him a better life.

The lack of official documents is a persistent theme in Novecento's life. First, he cannot leave the ship; then he is afraid to, and eventually, he chooses not to. He becomes a great pianist, perhaps the best, but he is not fully aware of the music he is able to play. "If you do not know what you are playing, then it is jazz," he is told at one point.

In the duel with renowned pianist Jelly Roll Morton, beautifully sequenced by Tornatore and inspired by a scene in Scott Joplin (1977), Novecento does not really engage in the competition until the very end. When he finally plays, he delivers an impossible piece, leaving everyone breathless until the final roar of applause—the piece "Enduring Movement", by Morricone, perhaps inspired by the "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Korsakov.

Novecento plays for the first class at dinner and later for fun in the third class. He talks to all, absorbs their stories, and lives his life through their emotions. He softens and freezes all his desires by living the stories he is told, internalizing the experiences of others so he does not need to leave the ship. He experienced love by “playing a whole night for one beautiful lady” and friendship “by playing along with you that night before you left." All aspects of life are categorized and boxed. The steamship extends from bow to stern; Novecento could measure it like the octaves of a piano. But the streets of New York, expanding from the harbor, were too many for him; “that was a piano he could not play, a music too big.”

This work delves into our comfort zone. How do we feel about boarding a plane with a one-way ticket, approaching the embassy for a visa, waiting for a new passport? How vulnerable are we? The protagonist has no nationality, so he builds his own world on a ship, like Tom Hanks in “The Terminal.” But while Hanks is struggling to come back home, Novecento is already home; he belongs to the ship where immigrants board and leave, where everyone passes by and leaves crumbs of experiences to him. By staying, Novecento finds a way to be content in a finite vessel, where an infinite humanity passes by, but only two thousand at a time. Those he can handle, and for those, he was the greatest jazz pianist.

It is a sad story with a happy protagonist, amazingly played by Tim Roth. I highly recommend the play, the book, the soundtrack, and the movie.

About the author:

Michele Guala is a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering and a faculty member at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. He was born in Genoa, Italy, where he earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. In 2011, he moved to Minneapolis and became a member of the ICC.