‘The World Before Your Feet’ Is A Delightful Stroll Through The Pleasures Of Walking [SXSW Review]

Matt Green seems to get asked a lot what he does for work. The answer, which he repeats well over a dozen times in the new documentary “The World Before Your Feet,” is “nothing.” Not because he can’t, isn’t qualified, or is independently wealthy (though it often feels that way), but because he just doesn’t. This answer, of course, leaves people feeling incredulous. Because how else do you define Matt? Sure, he’s walked across America, from New York to Oregon, and is currently walking every block, sidewalk, bridge, and park in New York City, but if he doesn’t work, who is he?

Matt and his lack of employment is only a small part of ‘The World Before Your Feet’.  Written, produced, edited, and directed by Jeremy Workman, it’s representative of both him and the film, mostly because both seem adamant to defy the conventional rules they are supposed to conform to. Not only does Matt not work, but he doesn’t really have any reason behind why he has undertaken the six-plus-year task of walking every inch of New York. He doesn’t plan on writing a book or turning his experience into anything monetary (though this film seems to be doing that for him), and he claims to lack any guiding philosophical motivation. He’s just doing it because he wants to. “The World Before Your Feet” is similar in that it eschews a traditional narrative: it picks up with Matt in the middle of his journey and ends far before he does, opting for mosaic experiences over anything linear. The point is never to understand Matt or his adventure, but simply to experience it alongside him. And maybe, if we’re lucky, to see New York (or the world) through the loving eyes that he does.

But, since narrative is how we make sense of the world: Before Matt began walking, he was an engineer, a job which seemingly allowed him to save up enough money so that when he got sick of the cubical life, he was able to quit, shed himself of an apartment and commercial desires, and start cat-sitting his way across New York. His reasoning, of course, is murky. He explains over and over that he’s just walking to walk. To afford his lifestyle he crashes on couches, cat-sits, dog-sits, and eats rice and beans, spending, on average, $15 a day. Outside of his walking, Matt researches the things he sees — the churches, the storefronts, the abandoned lots — and he writes blogs about all of it. There are themes and patterns, but those occurred by happenstance. The only thing deliberate is the journey itself; everything else, Matt is determined to just let happen.

And it seems this mindset — to just let the story happen — is a guiding principle of “The World Before Your Feet.” ‘The World’ spans what feels like years in Matt’s journey, from blizzards to the Bronx to barbershops with the letter z in their name. And while it may take a moment to get into sync with the loose structure and lazy pace, once it’s understood that ‘The World’ isn’t interested in going anywhere – it simply wants to relish each moment as it happens -the film becomes an utterly compelling joy. And as it unfolds, it becomes obvious that it is a lovely sort of meander, an exercise in paying attention to all the things normally overlooked.

What really carries Workman’s film though, is Matt — his zen-like composure and his affability — and the fact that Workman doesn’t try to fit a movie around his subject. Workman does his due diligence, sitting down with Matt’s ex-girlfriends, his parents, and fellow wanderers, all of whom attest to his geniality and idiosyncratic nature — even if that’s exactly what ended their relationship, as was the case with his fianceé. But mostly, ‘The World’ is just Matt doing his thing, wandering around the streets and backroads of New York, chatting with strangers, getting in snowball fights with teenagers, and taking long, loving looks at the different textures of the world around him — the forgotten history imbued in each and every block of America’s most vibrant city.

“The World Before Your Feet” is by no means a perfect film. Its lackadaisical start is too unassuming and a little too much basic information is withheld for a bit too long. Still, it’s a genuinely pleasant film that revels in the pleasure of simply wandering this strange, beautiful world we live in. [B+]

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