An art film about art films.

I liked Nobody Walks from director Ry Russo-Young who cowrote the screenplay with Lena Dunham. But I'm not exactly sure why I liked it. Maybe it was because this is a movie that embraces light. And I'm not talking about big, Hollywood light that requires tons of equipment and electricity. I'm talking about warm, rich, intense California light.  This movie captures so much natural, beautiful light it's unlike any movie I've seen in a long time. Shooting with available light never looked so good.

Then again, I may have liked this movie because of the sound design. If there's one thing Sundance 2012 proved, it's that sound design matters. And this movie delivers wonderful sound. I guess it had to. After all, it's a movie about a young artist who visits the friend of a friend to get help creating the sound design for her latest art film. The art film within the art film is gorgeous and the sound design is even more luscious. It may be my favorite part of the movie.

Which leads us to the movie's plot. The young, female artist moves into the home of a successful California family. She;s not just sexy, she's strangely desirable. That means the entire family is thrown into chaos. The daughter is jealous. The young son is turned on. The husband does her. The wife wants to do her but can't because she's so pissed off at her husband. And that doesn't include the plot lines for the secondary characters.

Nobody Walks is a Sundance film that proves independent filmmakers are achieving new heights. It wasn't my favorite movie at this year's festival. But it's hard not to like this beautiful movie.