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.

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.

What a wonderful life-affirming film. Happy, sad, so bloody real. Brilliant filming, animation and first class performances. It is good to be truly moved by a film without feeling like you have been manipulated, to see good acting without any 'star performances' overwhelming the whole thing, and to find yourself talking and thinking about it for days afterward with delight. This has re-ignited my belief in the strength of Australian filmmakers. I fervently hope that Sara (who gets a particularly moving performance from her husband in this movie), goes on to make more feature length movies. (Apparently her previous films have all been animated shorts). She has that great ability to tell a universal human story with an artists eye, through all those perfect little details of scenery, set, facial expression, props - all memorably enhanced by her unusual touch in using animation to convey thoughts and emotions. Go see it.

With life inevitably comes death and the characters here bring the fear, longing and love of life to us in the most normal, everyday way. This doesn't stop you from walking from the cinema feeling you have just witnessed brilliance. Subtle. Real. Everyday. Normal .... but engaging, wonderful and more than just another movie. This is real life drama without twee, without corn, without a sledgehammer. Running like a railway track throughout the movie is the reality of death which may be around the corner, or a century away, no one knows their final hour, yet everyone finally becomes more aware of its inevitability at some point. The difference lay in how we all deal with this reality. Sara Watt has managed to show us all this and more not only in the dialogue of the movie but in subtle looks, scenes and nuances. It's a rare treat to be considered an intelligent audience.

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.