Look Both Ways

This year's Australian movies have been small-scale, about ordinary people, scenic and derivative ("Oyster Farmer", "Peaches"), if occasionally on target ("Three Dollars"). "Look Both Ways" is small-scale, about ordinary people, not particularly scenic (the locations are less salubrious parts of Adelaide – "railway cuttings") but definitely not derivative. Visually it is one of the most original movies I have seen for a long time. The visuals tell much of the story and barely a scene is superfluous. It's not just the use of animation to convey a character's thought and feelings; every scene has something in it that's part of the story, but this picture show is never intrusive. Sarah Watt, the animator whose first feature this is would have been a natural in the silent movie era.

The action in the film covers a hot February weekend in Adelaide and starts with a death – a man out walking his dog somehow winds up under a slow-moving passing freight train (there are no fences). Meanwhile ruggedly handsome newspaper photographer Nick (William McGuiness) has just been informed by one of those doctors with a personality by-pass that he has a rather serious, in fact probably terminal case of testicular cancer (which is pretty tough really since the 5 year survival rate for this form of cancer is 95%).

He tells his editor Phil (Andrew S Gilbert) who sends him out with brash reporter Andy (Anthony Hayes) to cover the man under train story. On site Nick meets artist Meryl (Justine Clarke) who has witnessed the death. The next morning they meet again, and by the evening they are… mustn't spoil the story. Andy is having relationship problems with Anna (Lisa Flanagan) his attractive and pregnant Koori girlfriend, which is not surprising since he is treating her like trash, as well as with his ex-wife. The train-driver is brooding over the accident, watched over by his silent though strangely composed son and the dead man's girlfriend is trying to come to terms with her loss.

The interwoven stories are of course reminiscent of "Lantana", many a Robert Altman movie starting with "Nashville", and Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia". The trick is to wrap them all up together in a satisfying way, and Sarah Watt largely achieves this, though you have to concentrate at the end on a flying photographic montage if you want a hopeful, if not happy ending. Although William McGuiness and Justine Clarke are the lead actors, the rest of the cast shine as well; even the minor roles are well executed – for example Maggie Dence as Nick's mother, Edwin Hodgeman as his now-dead father, Sacha Horler as Meryl's flatmate and Andreas Sobik as the train driver (who has only one line of dialogue).

You can't help wondering what Sarah Watt would do if she had a budget the size Peter Jackson now has. Jackson started out making cheap splatter films in NZ which were gory but inventive, and went on to greater things. Perhaps Sarah is not such an eccentric genius but she is very honest with her material – her emotions are true, and not an exercise in audience manipulation - and her visual sense extraordinary. She is telling it like she sees and feels it, and the audience cannot but respond positively.

I loved this clever LOCAL film, full of mature characters and visual treats.In the cinema with me - full house by word of mouth I'd say- there were people laughing out loud yet the subject matter deals with death and pain. There is an almost Buddhist quality to the insights revealed. Life is like it is and we have to deal with it with compassion. Throughout, there were constant images of beauty along with the pain and grot. The ensemble acting was uniformly delightful and McInnes gave the performance of his life.But they were all great. Justine Clark was so dishily funny and down to earth, such an expressive face as she delivers her so clumsily real lines.The drawings and animation add so much to the story and fabulous fast,montages carry an extra charge.This is what the big blockbusters cant do- deliver stories that talk to the locals. The humour is so laconic and ironic- it is my Australia reflected back to me.It's a film full of witty sideways glances.

There is no reason for a small budget to reduce the aims of a film production, but director Sarah Watt tries to pack too much into her filmic bag in Look Both Ways. Essentially, she just has one story to tell, and a sub-plot is always an excellent counterpoint, but Watt decides to touch on the lives of half a dozen people. The result is that none of their stories are fully developed, and in the absence of commanding central figures, the theme of death threatens to take over as the main character.

The main story, a budding romance between Meryl Lee (Justine Clarke) and Nick (William McInnes) needed more detail: we needed to get to know the characters better, but Watt does not seem to know them well enough to go further. They get introduced to each other, just as we get introduced to them, but we are left wanting to know much more.

It was revealing to learn in the DVD interview with Watt that the photo-montage sequences were assembled by another team altogether. They were effective, but somehow did not fit well with the director's style. The Waifs, and other Aussie pop singers were another intrusion.

Watt is a gifted film-maker, but she should study the art of story-telling, in particular the skill of peeling layers off characters to reveal their inner selves. Too many loose ends were left dangling at the end of this movie, and the pay-off photo-montage sequence was at best ambivalent, and ultimately unnecessary. This is a quirky, enjoyable film, flaws and all, and highly recommended.

Death is a touchy subject to broach regardless of the medium in which you choose to expose it. It's uncomfortable to even think about yet touches us all on many levels, and that is why LOOK BOTH WAYS succeeds.

Building on death in thought-provoking, sad, and often hilarious terms, Look Both Ways binds a small Australian community together after the death of a man upon the local railroad tracks. Meryl (Justine Clarke, DANNY DECKCHAIR) witnesses the horrible event and summons the authorities. The local media shows up, including photojournalist Nick (William McInnes, IRRESISTIBLE) who's just been diagnosed with a rapidly spreading cancer. Also on the scene is Nick's newspaper partner Andy (Anthony Hayes, NED KELLY) and eventually the deceased's wife Julia (Daniella Farinacci, BROTHERS).

Meryl sees the event as just another death, something that fill her thoughts and her paintings on a daily basis. Her vivid imagination surrounding death is illustrated (literally) via laughingly silly animated sequences that are sure to tickle your dark funny bone. Photojournalist Nick sees himself on the railroad tracks, having just received a medical death sentence of metastatic testicular cancer. Newspaper writer Andy battles to understand life and death while struggling to be a good father to his divorced children, and the discovery that his new girlfriend is pregnant with an unwanted child. Widow Julia tries to understand the seemingly meaninglessness of her husband's death as flowers flow into her home and she's forced to come to grips with such a sudden loss.

Where Look Both Ways succeeds is in its delivery. Each person views death under their own unique umbrella, but are bound together by this one tragic event. Meryl and Nick become oddball lovers during a one night stand, while newsman Andy tries to sort through his chaotic and merciless lifestyle. Widow Julia and the engineer who was driving the train are two of the more interesting cases within the story, as they have no speaking parts until the very end, but are given ample screen time which speaks volumes on its own.

The message of the flick is simple but not forced: look at death both ways. See it as a necessity but don't dwell on it. There is hope and fear within it, operating not at opposite ends of the spectrum, but as a gauge on how to live life without death looming ever present on one's mind.

Meryl, the one who the film is mostly about, learns this lesson the hard way, coming to terms with her own fate, and that of Nick who's cancerous life is destined to plow into hers with the force of a padded sledgehammer.

I concur with Mia-38's comment. This is an absorbing film, tastefully executed and rewarding to watch. Death is a daily topic in all media, part of which is shown in the film by the short animated sequences. This film takes us to what happens in our lives before that final event, death. One question raised is whether a particular death is accidental or possibly suicide. It has often been said that movies are a reactive medium. This film is sparse in dialog and much is told through expressions of some really fine acting. I believe this film will become a classic with time and be honored by many critics who on review will begin to appreciate the finesse and delicate technique of its creator. Please see this film and in so doing you will support a courageous distributor and a talented movie maker. Jim