Look Both Ways

This beautiful film is possibly one of the best Australian Films in the past few years. The performances of William McInnis, Justine Clarke and Anthony Hayes are real convincing portrayal of characters trapped in a moment in time. The delicate performance of McInnis as the cancer suffering Nick, brings home the real feelings of disbelief, fear and anger that a person has when they are told for the first time that they have the "C" word. The blend of film and animation is done brilliantly. The tragedy for writer / director Sarah Watt has come with her own diagnosis after the film wrapped - the Australian Film going audiences such as myself wishes her a speedy recovery so she can continue to provide us with powerful pieces of cinema such as "Look Both Ways".

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.

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.

Every couple of years the quality of our films seems to peak then decline. For every Muriel's Wedding or Lantana there are four films like The Nugget or Strange Bedfellows. Perhaps it's our complete saturation of American culture. Our expectations are such that everything we see must conform to the mold of American T.V. or film. 'Look Both Ways' is another attempt to fly in the face of this all-consuming wave, one that grows steadily bigger. The ability to tell distinctly Australian stories, whether they be set in suburbia or outback, period or contemporary, is something that should be encouraged and supported. This is not a U.S bashing exercise. Or a dig at the media in this country. I merely want to state that it is good to see courage taken by Australian film makers and financiers by making this film. We will never be as big as Hollywood, and we shouldn't try to be. National cinema, no matter what country it is, exists to enhance and enrich the culture that it comes from. We should be happy that this film has been made, because it gives hope for the future, until the media proclaims that our industry has declined again.

Getting to the film, I feel that it gives a feeling of hope in the face of uncertainty and fear. The main characters have to deal with things that creep up on us without warning, whether it be the death of a loved one, or a freight train accident, or the first unsure steps in a developing relationship. The film focuses on how these events can cripple our daily lives, sending us into muddled states of grief and fear. It also makes us treasure what we have. this film is a gem, one that deserves to have a wide viewer ship, just so that the world can see what we are capable of.

I don't give it a 10, because the style is not totally agreeable to me (I'm too old). But this film was a shocking surprise for all its richness. When my friend said "Australian film", I immediately said, "Yes, it's been too long since I've seen one. I always like their films".

I had recently watched the older American film , Grand Canyon, and found apt comparisons. But here's what my companion and I loved about "Look Both Ways" - the characters were real, the scenery real, the main topic (death) made us squirm, but we recognized the reality that we would rather avoid. THe acting was superb, I especially believed Justine Clark as Meryl - her face IS the person who conjures those troubling cartoons. The film, the actors, the scenery was so unpretentious that we could believe it all. The cartoon flashes are peculiar, but we loved the artwork - can we buy copies? Loved the soundtrack too.

Grand Canyon, by contrast, is too clearly a story by a screenwriter, it has the production values of Hollywood (the better side of Hollywood, but still slick), it has well-known, attractive and very good actors. The story flows so well ... but you KNOW you're watching a fictional story that is acted and produced by world class talent. In other words, you cannot mistake it for reality.