Walk with Me review – sluggish romantic drama feels like a plodding hike

Isabel del Rosal’s lesbian drama Walk with Me, which marks her feature debut as a writer-director, hones in on the will-they-won’t-they relationship of two women who seem suited but repeatedly miss each other with confessions of adoration. But with a dragging script and deflating narrative arcs, the film's biggest offence is that it is monotonously boring to sit through.

When Amber (Devin Dunne Cannon) decides to leave her husband at the age of thirty, she is unsure of exactly where she’s headed. Their love has run its course and while she's happy raising her young daughter, the next step is unclear. The aimlessness we associate with Walk with Me’s protagonist unfortunately carries over into the film itself, a work of frustratingly hollow characterisation with little regard for emotional substance.

The decision to move on from her former life is finalised after Amber is given the keys to her new home by red-haired estate agent Logan (Bridget Barkan). In celebration, Amber drops her wedding ring into a cup of black coffee – a very odd way to tip her waitress. Settling into a new house, boxes littering the floor, Amber invites Logan over in a poor excuse for a housewarming. Like much of Walk with Me, character motivation here is nonexistent; moments that should be meaningful are skeletal and lack emotional context.

There are, however, glimpses of self-awareness here and there. Inklings of physical comedy and Amber’s coworkers’ eye-rolling sentiments suggest Walk with Me may be wading beyond its surface-level exploration of what it is to be in a lesbian relationship and come out later in life. But then Amber calls herself a “work in progress” and verbalises every thought that crosses her mind, plunging the film headfirst back into cliché.

Playing like an unseasonal hallmark movie without the charm, Walk with Me is washed out with overwhelmingly grey visuals. A scene where Logan bumps into her mother on the subway platform represents a shift in performance and injects some desperately needed drama to the proceedings. But even that's undercut by Amber’s attempt to calm Logan down, who resorts to telling her “You exist, you matter,” an unprompted response that makes it sound like these two women are having entirely different conversations.

Walk With Me wants to have something meaningful to say about falling in love when the odds are against you. Yet this is a story of a lesbian relationship between two well-off white women in New York, which makes the unchallenged emphasis on their inability to be together feel whiny to an insufferable degree. That’s not to disavow the very real fear that coming out entails – just that the film fails to go past this poorly-aged trope.

If there's one redeeming quality to be had, it can be found in Bridget Barkan’s ability to hold a crowd’s attention with her guitar-brandishing performances. The film’s soundtrack is composed of sixteen original songs by Amanda Walther, five of which are performed by Barkan, who has a stage presence you wish translated into the couple’s conversations. Between fireplace serenades and live performances, Amber and Logan repeatedly break up and get back together. The effect is like being on a carnival ride you can't get off. And while the film's title suggests something of a leisurely stroll, Walk with Me winds up feeling more like a plodding hike.

Walk With Me was screened as part of the BFI Flare Film Festival 2022. A UK release date is yet to be announced.