Nobody Walks (2012)

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Okay, so this is an indie film made for Sundance, still, it has it all: good script, good directing, superb acting (especially DeWitt)!Given the simple situation (attractive, bohemian art-lover girl arrives to a family), everyone can easily guess the dynamics. However, her presence points to a general pattern that is present everywhere, in everybody's life... Which is wonderfully depicted in one of the scenes - beware, spoiler is coming!**** SPOILER **** After the party, the 'happy' family walks out the door. Happy??? Complete mess!!! The husband is disappointed... because the young art-lover girl left with his young employee. The wife shared a kiss... with her patient. The daughter is in love with the young employee of her father, who left with the art-lover girl... so she had to make do with her classmate for a kiss :) **** END OF SPOILER ****In its genre, this movie is 10/10! Check it out!

This film gets at some difficult truths. Anyone interested in miscommunication between the sexes, gender dynamics, gender studies, roots of desire, roots of violence...anyone that knows what it is like to be a young woman...I think the list goes on; there are many audiences that could get something out of this film. Plus, it is well written, well acted, and well directed - there were several scenes that caught my attention in artistic, creative, and subtle ways. I realize this review may not be balanced - that's a whole lot of praise, but, truly, there is something about this film that is not only well presented, but profoundly important.

Given the screenplay was co-written by Lena Dunham, creator and breakout star of HBO's "Girls", I was hoping this 2012 indie relationship drama would resonate strongly like Lisa Cholodenko's acclaimed Los Angeles-set films ("Laurel Canyon", "The Kids Are All Right"), especially with such a smart cast of actors. However, something feels amiss in director Ry Russo-Young's coolish approach to a familiar story of adulterous deception and family dysfunction. The pacing feels glacial, and the characters are just not that involving emotionally. Perhaps that was the intention in showing the shallow nature of the lifestyle being portrayed, but it rubs off on the film's inertia leaving it feeling quite flat. The setting is LA's funky-chic Silver Lake neighborhood where sound engineer Peter lives with his psychotherapist wife Julie along with their young son and her teenaged daughter from a previous marriage, Kolt. They epitomize the laid-back, everything's-cool attitudes one associates with affluent Southern Californians.Enter Martine, a New York acquaintance of Julie's college friend who happens to be an attractive 23-year-old experimental filmmaker. She has agreed to work as Peter's assistant in exchange for him helping out on her latest project, an arty video installation revolving around close- ups of ants. How Martine emotionally invades the family is the crux of the story, and to the credit of Russo-Young and Dunham, she never comes across as an unrepentant interloper like more commercially driven exploitative films have done in the past. It's just that the plot pretty much goes the way you would expect it would go from the outset, although the characters carry decidedly ambiguous natures that make some of the story turns feel more complex than they really need to be. For instance, the inevitable tryst between Martine and Peter lacks believable passion because it feels almost matter-of-fact. In hindsight, I feel like it should have been the driving force in pushing each character toward self-examination.The cast is not really at fault here as the acting, for the most part, is sensitive and assured. Olivia Thirlby (the best friend in "Juno") provides the requisite gamine quality needed to make Martine credible as an object of obsession even if her character remains a cipher throughout. The always becalming Rosemarie DeWitt ("Rachel Getting Married") delivers a thoughtful balancing act between earth mother and jealous wife as Julie. John Krasinski has a bit harder time escaping his amiable good-guy image from "The Office" and "Away We Go", but he does provide some surprisingly heated moments as Peter that make you wonder if he could do a greater variety of roles on screen. As the constantly yearning Kolt, India Ennenga appears to be channeling early Claire Danes, but she makes the character's unrequited love palpable. In smaller parts, Justin Kirk as a horned-up Hollywood screenwriter and Julie's attentive patient and Dylan McDermott as her self-possessed ex- husband bring much needed alpha energy to the proceedings. A late meltdown scene with Kolt's smarmy Italian tutor (Emanuele Secci) feels very out of place. Lethargic viewing.

I saw Nobody Walks at the BAM Film Festival and loved it. It's sensual and provocative and very smart. It was written by Lena Dunham and Ry Russo-Young and fantastically directed by Russo-Young. It's great to see John Krasinsky in this kind of dramatic and sexual role and Rosemary DeWitt is lovely and perfect. The sensory details in this movie are impeccable, from the sound design and music to the cinematography and production design. These all work together to create a dreamy LA background, against which family, sex, art and work are critically examined and tested. It is a beautiful movie. I highly recommend it. It's also so great to see a movie created and starring so many brilliant and driven young women.