The writer Pedro Lenz spends his days writing and observing his world and its people. Through his travels from his apartment near the train station, he offers a portrait of Switzerland and its inhabitants.

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Reminiscent of Alain Cavalier and Agnès Varda’s moving vision of the world that is both amusing and amused, this is a curious documentary about finding poetry in the ordinary, capturing beauty and sweetness in what seems to be trivial and obvious daily life. Swiss writer Pedro Lenz’s texts about his “people” thread through this documentary by Enrique Ros and Norbert Wiedmer, which offers a quizzical look at a variety of people, social groups and settings. Mitten ins Land gives the audience a kaleidoscopic view of the Swiss as it listens and respects its subjects. But once the charm of the first scenes wears off, the film loses energy it can’t make up for. Even worse: it slowly becomes artificial and forced until it loses what little magic it had at the outset.