Nobody Walks

Anyone who really doesn't like LA would be foolish to watch this, but on the other hand, those of us who do like LA could do worse. I think it's not as bad as some people think it is. Yes, the characters are neurotic and horny navel-gazers. There are a lot of attempts to have sex in this. Some viewers might have a problem with an intergenerational pot-party scene. I don't think I've seen one of those before. The photography is pretty good and the acting too is not bad. Some have compared this film to Laurel Canyon which stars Frances McDormand and Christian Bale and is better. But it is a similar look at kind of a rarefied milieu wherein people can be annoying. But that's not really news, is it? I actually think a good rule of thumb is, if you start watching a movie and find you really don't like it, it's OK to stop. I'm just saying don't avoid things for the wrong reasons. Nobody Walks is 81 minutes and almost good.

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 went into this film with high expectations being a huge Lena Dunham fan. The film centres around an experimental film maker and her work with an audio designer. If you have a great pair of headphones or a high end sound system the film wont disappoint your ears either, with a great original score. Rosemarie Dewitt is fantastic as always however my stand- out performance comes from fresh face India Ennenga who for me was the performance highlight. The film wraps up quickly and doesn't waste much time either, its a quick tale told sharply and its brilliant. It baffles me why this has such low scores, possibly they were expecting something more light-hearted penned by Dunham?

Martine (Olivia Thirlby) is a young artist making an art film about insects. Peter (John Krasinski) is a sound engineer helping her out to finish the film. She slowly draws the attention of Peter and creates conflict with his wife Julie (Rosemarie DeWitt).

Krasinski is playing against his usual nice guy type. He is still playing a version of it but corrupting it. It's actually quite off-putting to see it. Thirlby is wonderfully charming as a girl who shy away from commitments. She's one of the more interesting young actresses around. She doesn't overplay the role. She neither the victim nor the aggressor. The daughter Kolt played by India Ennenga has an interesting role. All of it should add up to a very compelling movie. However it feels rather under written and empty. The characters act but without major consequences. The couple's marriage wasn't much to begin with, they didn't really fight for it, and it isn't much at the end. In the end, everybody walks.

Nobody Walks (2012)

** (out of 4)

A New York film student named Martine (Olivia Thirlby) comes out West to finish her movie on insects and ends up living with a happy family. The father (John Krasinski) agrees to help Martine finish the film but soon he ends up falling for her, which sets off different emotions for his wife (Rosemarie DeWitt). NOBODY WALKS has some pretty good stuff in it but in the end it's just another independent movie that thinks it has a lot more to say than it actually does. If I had to pick one word for this film it would be "mildly." I say that because everything here could have mildly put in front of it. The story is mildly entertaining. The idea that everyone wants what they can't have is mildly interesting. The way the film gets its point across is mildly interesting. Everything in this movie manages to be mildly something but unfortunately it's just not clever enough or showing us anything that we haven't already seen and this is what keeps it from being much better. We've seen the perfect household fall apart with the site of a beautiful woman using her sexuality so that's not giving us anything new here. The way that it all happens is, you guessed it, mildly interesting because as a film buff I found it entertaining that the husband was helping the girl edit a film. The sex scene happens in a sound proof room. I'm not exactly sure if this student's film was supposed to mean something to the viewer but I took nothing away from it. The best thing going for the film are its performances with Thirlby once again really impressing me. She's certainly a very charming actress and the way she pushed the sexuality here was quite memorable and one hopes to see more of her going forward. Both Krasinski, DeWitt and Dylan McDermott are good in their parts as is India Ennenga who plays the daughter. NOBODY WALKS isn't going to appeal to too many people but I think fans of the indie scene might want to check it out even if it doesn't reach the levels one would have hoped for.