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Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2010 Heartland Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Travis Fine
Starring: Melissa Leo, Anthony Keyvan, Brad William Henke, AnnaSophia Robb, Phillip Rhys and Sayed Badreya

“The Space Between” converges on two very different people struggling to navigate their way through their exigent circumstances.

Omar, a Pakistani-American boy, and Abu, his father, live a simple but devout life in New York. Dutifully honoring their prophet Muhammad with ritual prayers, Abu struggles with two jobs to ensure a future for his scientifically curious child, but ultimately can’t compete with opportunities afforded to his son elsewhere.

Montine (Academy Award nominee Melissa Leo) struggles to keep herself together, her love for the world disengaged by the death of her husband. As a flight attendant, she hovers in a world of hotels and airports, a transient prone to outbursts in a world moving quickly forward around her.

Travis Fine has created real people here, gifting them with believable backstories, true-to-life dialogue and honest reactions to their predicaments. While Omar runs to bathrooms to lock himself away from confusion, Montine dries out tiny bottles of vodka. Forced upon each other when the events of 9/11 ground the plane on which Omar is flying, the unlikely duo set out across the country to deliver the boy to his father, who may or may not still be alive following the attacks and who may or may not have been more directly affected by the events of 9/11 than at first appears.

While many still have difficulties, even a decade on, watching stories related to the events of that day, Fine manages to skillfully capture the ashen confusion of the time with understated hopefulness rather than much of the hysteria that often accompanies its coverage.

An actor himself, who returns to the business with this project after time spent as a commercial airline pilot, Fine finds another spectacular performance from Leo, as well as highly-tuned small triumphs from the rest of his lead cast and production quality of the film.

While “The Space Between” may have fallen through the cracks of commercial releases following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, keep an eye out for it on television and DVD for a warm tale told of a time of tragedy, in which subtle humor goes a long way, and light treatment of our abilities to recall specific disasters and not others may leave your brain ticking over for some time.