rowmorg 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.

Krag The story was engaging, the direction was spot-on, the characters were almost brilliant, there is nothing I would criticize of this film. If Hollywood put out a film half as good it would certainly get an Oscar or Golden Globe. I don't know why IMDb requires 10 lines, completely stupid requirement if you ask me. There is nothing more to be said other than watch this film, another good "foreign" film I thoroughly enjoyed was "Death at a Funeral" totally funny. Let's see how many lines this makes. Again, not enough, only 8 lines written so far. Well let's see another good "foreign" film is "Once Were Warriors" from New Zealand, again an excellent (but violent) movie, could have been about the Native American situation. There, that should be 10 lines.

Fpi I guess it's only a minor spoiler to give away that this is a movie about cancer, and it's just as bleak as that may indicate. As much as I may appreciate depressive, black-and-white, six-hour long films, I'm afraid I found absolutely nothing positive about this movie. I found it overly boring, pointless and predictable. A movie about cancer has to offer something more profound than entertainment, but this film fell short of making any kind of statement a 14-year-old couldn't. Most of it is visually well done, particularly a rainy scene near the end, but it couldn't save the movie from being a total disaster that I very nearly walked out on. I'm happy that other reviewers have found a lot to appreciate, but to me this was a dreadful experience. Approach with caution.

fwomp 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.