Land in Between

A film in three parts, set at night in Rome. The parts are not connected. There are three separate stories and all of them take place at the edge of the same city, at night. In the first there is a woman; she works on a road outside the city and waits for customers. It is cold, deserted and dangerous. In the second there is a young man; he has just arrived in the country, is looking for somewhere to stay and does not speak the language. The people he meets promise him work. The third is about a man working at a filling station. He is alone on the night shift; customers come and go and the time does not pass. What the three share is waiting. Nobody does anything; everyone waits for something to happen. The look is close to documentary: real locations, natural light and a hand-held camera. Most of the performers are not professionals and play parts close to their own situations. The narrative makes no comment and pities nobody; the camera stays back. It is Matteo Garrone's first feature. He went on to much larger productions, and the way of observing here continues in them. An interesting starting point for anyone who likes Italian independent cinema and stories of migration. For a viewer looking for plot, the film completes no story.