If there’s one thing that seems to be able to provide endless material for indie films to mine, it’s infidelity. There’s no need for special effects, fancy locations, or even big name actors to make a compelling human drama, all you have to do is set yourself up a good, old-fashioned love triangle, get a couple steamy shots of people doing it, and then take things to a place where everyone is crying a lot and yelling at each other. The results are instantly compelling, and instantly relatable to everyone watching.
Nobody Walks has a leg up on your typical, indie infidelity movie for a few reasons though. Most apparent is that they actually have sprung for some big name actors. From indie darlings like Olivia Thirlby and Rosemarie Dewitt, to beloved TV stars like John Krasinski and Justin Kirk, to an up-and-comer like India Ennenga (Treme) and an old hand like Dylan McDermott, Nobody Walks is bursting at the seams with actors who you’ll recognize and have probably been impressed by at some point.
In fact, there’s so many of them that the film manages to set up not just one, but several love triangles, and it seems to become more of an interesting, tangled web than your typical romance gone wrong schadenfreude-fest. Perhaps some of that influence comes from the fact that writer/director Ry Russo-Young brought Girls creator Lena Dunham on board as a co-writer. If Dunham has proven to be capable of anything, it’s an ability to put an uncomfortable amount of human suffering on the screen and then make people love watching it. So dig in, hit play on this new trailer, and get ready to watch a handful of people’s lives go to hell. It’s like watching TMZ, but better, because you’re not actually exploiting anyone real (or does that make it worse?).
Nobody Walks is set to hit theaters on October 12th. [Apple]