A Brooklyn couple navigates their unsteady relationship while hosting an Airbnb guest and a despondent friend. “Space,” by director Jesse Thurston, finds its characters in precarious zones, struggling to verbalizing inner thoughts, deferring conversations, balancing love and transparency. It’s a beautifully layered and lived-in piece, a fitting follow-up to Thurston’s previous short, “Snow Day." Something doesn’t feel quite right when Beth welcomes her boyfriend home from a trip. And not just because a giddy NYC tourist named Heidi is Airbnb’ing their guest room for the week. Before Tim has the time to decompress, a mutual friend, Jeremy, comes over to explain his recent rough patch (“am I a sociopath?”), which unintentionally functions to extend the period of avoidance between the issues of Beth and Tim. The ’space’ of the title has multiple meanings: the space developing between the young couple, exacerbated by, or perhaps the reason why Tim has been away. The physical space shared by the three friends and one stranger, particularly resonant here as a sign of sacrifice living in New York, having to Airbnb a guest room to financially survive. And finally, space, as in outer space, where a meteor shower is scheduled to arrive on this particular evening. The tourist, who improbably ties the film together with a counterbalancing lust for life, excitedly watches the open sky and waits.

Written and directed by Jesse Thurston. Starring Mitra Jouhari, Tim Platt, Jonathan Gordon and Polly Lee. Director of Photography: Mitch Blummer. Editor: Jesse Thurston. Music: Catherine Brookman. Producer: Hannah Greene. Color: Nate Seymour.