The nominee from Waterville’s Railroad Square Cinema for June’s Pride Month this year is writer/director Isabel del Royal’s (“Smile for the Camera TV” series) debut film, “Walk With Me.”

del Royal, a newcomer to the mad, mad world of filmmaking, makes a nice try at working with the tools, ideas and palettes of those who went at it before her.

But here in “Walk With Me,” there is something missing: Julianne Moore and Annette Bening. Yet, even this slow walk shows she has talent. She’s young, be patient.

Well, we can’t all get a gay “When Harry Met Sally” every time we go to the movies. Sometimes we just get “When Amber Meets Logan.” Be warned, there are no laughs here; this is serious relationship business.

del Royal needs time to study the tricks and moves of those who’ve done this sort of stuff before her, even those who’ve been bad at it.

del Royal’s story in “Walk With Me” is a song you can hear pouring out of every window on the street. Sometimes it’s sad; sometimes, as in the 2005 British film “Imagine Me and You” or 1999’s “But I’m a Cheerleader,” it’s happy, really happy.

Here, in del Royal’s beginner film, it’s not OMG, how dark, as in Todd Hayne’s 2016 “Carol.” It’s just .. well … boring.

We get Amber (Devin Dunne Cannon), a college-educated woman, doing well in her job, which is … we don’t really know.

Amber has a sweet daughter (Grant Elisa Ginsberg) we like a lot.

Then del Royal rushes us to the scene where Amber interrupts her husband (Daniel Fox) at his laptop and hits him in the forehead with the news. She’s leaving him and the marriage is over.

Good. Let’s move along. This isn’t Harry and Sally, nothing here to see.

We now find Amber on the street looking for a new apartment, with her real estate agent Logan (Bridget Barkan), a hipster agent and nighttime guitar player.

Logan (Bridget Barkan, “The Irishman”), who really plays the guitar. and Amber develop a friendship that melds into a relationship, one that comes with trouble, as in Amber’s cliche controlling mother (Nikki James.)

Before long, and over a couple of glasses of Merlot, one thing leads to another and Amber discovers what’s been wrong with her marriage … she’s gay.

We weren’t thrilled with either actress or Fox as the boring husband, who may well be a closet case himself, or Amber’s standard controlling mother, or the equally boring office staff where Amber is succeeding.

I will encourage music fans to see the film just to hear the well-known composer Amanda Walther’s songs on the soundtrack, and as played by Logan in clubs. There are 16 of then threaded though the film, with five of then performed by Logan (Barkan).

It ain’t a happy gay journey as in “The Kid’s are Alright,” but Logan and Amber ain’t Julianne Moore and Annette Bening. Nobody’s perfect …

“Walk With Me” opens Saturday, June 4 for one night only at Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.