“Nobody Walks” is an independent film written and directed by Ry Russo-Young. It premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Jury Prize. “Nobody Walks” was first released on video on demand before being released in theaters on a limited basis.
The main storyline in this film deals with the changes that occur to a family when a young artist moves in with them to make an art film. The title comes from the premise that nobody walks away from this situation unchanged.
Martine (Oliva Thirlby) is a filmmaker in New York who has just ended a relationship with her ex-lover because he sued her for using nude pictures of him in a film. She moves to Los Angeles to gain some distance from her failed relationship while she completes her latest art film. She also plans to use this opportunity to exercise her new-found freedom in her sex life.
Martine decides to stay with Julie (Rosemarie DeWitt) and Peter (John Krasinski), a married couple who have a mutual acquaintance with Martine. Julie and Peter’s children include their teenaged daughter Kolt (India Ennenga) and a younger son. Julie and Peter are relaxed and open-minded, but their lives are thrown off-balance when Martine enters their lives.
Peter is a professional sound engineer in Hollywood who begins helping Martine with her film’s sound design at no charge. This requires them to work together closely and they enter into a relationship that becomes more than merely professional. This is unusual for Peter, who normally has difficulty forming emotional connections.
Julie is a therapist who seems to regard the impending affair between Peter and Martine as inevitable. She only asks that Peter not embarrass her, which is especially surprising since Julie is attracted to Martine. David (Rhys Wakefield) is Peter’s assistant, who also starts to develop feelings for Martine. This makes Kolt jealous, since she already has a crush on David.
Additional inappropriate relationships in this film include Kolt’s middle-aged tutor, who tries to seduce Kolt. This makes Kolt’s crush seem almost age appropriate by comparison. Meanwhile, Julie has a patient who starts to discuss his sexual interest in Julie.
“Nobody Walks” shows the more embarrassing aspects of sex and love, which should not surprise anyone familiar with the writing credits of Russo-Young and co-writer Lena Dunham. Russo-Young has previously directed romances such as “You Won’t Miss Me.” Dunham has also written frank romantic comedies such as “Girls” and “Tiny Furniture.”
All of the characters in this film must confront a developing desire for the wrong person, which lead to awkward disasters when they consummate these desires. This is a common premise for Dunham’s work, but unlike the comedies for which Dunham is known “Nobody Walks” is a serious drama.
This film does not create labels or make judgments on its characters, despite their obvious flaws. It would be easy to label Martine as a home wrecker and Peter as an unfeeling cad. The characters in “Nobody Walks” are more complex, and the film portrays them as overwrought people with poor impulse control who are trying to find some happiness in their lives. However, they don’t really know what they are doing, nor is anyone in the film completely innocent.
Kolt’s behavior towards David is filled with adolescent fumblings. However, it almost looks mature compared to Peter following Martine at a party like a teenaged boy. Julie looks at this quietly, but her obvious humiliation is difficult to watch.
Another example of Peter’s juvenile feelings towards Martine is the scene in which David and Martine drive away in an Oldsmobile Starfire, a popular car among teenagers during the 1960s. This is reminiscent of other films in which the high school football captain drives off with the head cheerleader as the nerd from the chess club looks on. This scene also illustrates that our desires may not change, but we can change what we do about them.
“Nobody Walks” moves between embarrassing episodes that make it clear Martine is gradually forcing Julie and Peter’s family apart. The primary purpose of the early part of the film is to determine how much stress the existing relationships can take before they are irreparably broken. The focus of the latter part of the film turns to fixing these relationships before the characters jump off a cliff with the object of their infatuation.