Starring Pedro De los Santos and Teresa Ramírez Aguirre. In Spanish with English subtitles. Unrated. Opens Friday, May 31, at the Cinematheque

The “here and there” of the title Aquí y Allá sounds pretty matter-of-fact, and so is the visual presentation in this documentary-style debut feature from young Spanish director Antonio Méndez Esparza. But the nagging sense of dislocation felt by many families in rural Mexico is not so easily dismissed.

The filmmaker, who has an MFA from New York’s Columbia University, focuses on Pedro De los Santos as an itinerant worker who returns to rugged Guerrero, Mexico, after a couple of years in the States. The man is treated with tentative curiosity by his wife (Teresa Ramírez Aguirre) and two daughters, with the elder girl already turning into a sullen handful.

An unassuming, sensitive fellow who dreams of a musical career and has real talent to back it up, our Pedro must work in fields and construction sites—in notably unsafe conditions—to make ends meet. There is some help from other members of his extended family (De los Santos’s real relatives, among the many nonprofessional actors), but everyone is hobbled by money woes. And they all have stories about people going There—it’s always said that way—and, in some cases, not coming back. The spectre of leaving, or of having some kind of harmony suddenly broken, is ominously present at every moment.

Over time, Pedro’s wife has a complicated third pregnancy, and his new band doesn’t really take off. Mostly seen in cool-headed medium shots and patience-demanding long takes, the film is free of violence, extreme conflict, and judgment. Some viewers may find it on the emotionally detached side, but the movie has the courage to reveal what immigrants really leave behind, whether it’s beautiful, ugly, or just ordinarily human.