Look Both Ways

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

Australian filmmaker Sarah Watt has heretofore made only short films, most of these animated. To call her full-length, live-action debut Look Both Ways auspicious is an understatement. This ensemble "dramedy" about how we come to terms with death is ever so light on its feet: witty, elliptical and full of odd charms. Especially odd and charming are its fast and funny animated moments, often given to ruminations about one's own death as a kind of awful -- though humorous -- fantasy of ghastly things that could happen but won't because we've first imagined them and thus staved off their arrival. Watt's heroine Meryl (winningly played by Justine Clarke) is a talented artist, and her hero is a photographer (brought to fine life by William McInnes) who also does thoughtful, professional work. Both brush up against the Grim Reaper, as do their friends, co-workers and family, and we viewers follow gladly along.

In the very way that her characters spar with each other, Watt feints and parries with her audience like a boxer or fencer enjoying the sport, occasionally hitting the target but never coming in for the kill. Her style is bracing and intelligent, artful and circumspect, telling us enough to follow along but also keeping us on our toes She rarely says or shows too much, which is a particular joy these days. In fact, she leaves one group of people unidentified for a long while, so that we wonder and worry about them. When we at last learn more, this opens the movie up in a manner that allows us to suddenly experience what has happened in a deeper fashion, yet without sentimentality. As in so many good Australian films, the characters, however minor their role (all are beautifully performed), ring true and help reinforce the story's reality. All leading right up to an ending that is a feat of brilliant film editing; in fact, it may even take your breath away. So many artists, in so many different art forms, struggle to capture "life" with that capital L. How lovely to discover one who's done it by making a movie about death.