Nick, a news photographer, learns he has testicular cancer and whilst on an assignment with his grumpy journalist friend, Andy, to cover the scene of a train accident, he meets a fatalistic artist, Meryl, who is returning from her father’s funeral. From such morbid talk, a relationship starts developing. Meanwhile, Andy, a divorced father, is far from happy with his newly pregnant girlfriend. Their lives interweave in their daily dramas as they contemplate their relationship and mortality.
A warmly reflective debut tale from Sarah Watts, which was a multi-award winner at the Australian Film Institute Awards. Its multi-layered approach to storytelling that uses its ensemble cast to similar effect as films such as Magnolia and Crash, and despite its apparent gloomy subject, the story is upbeat and quietly amusing, reaffirming the optimism kindled in life’s challenges.
Additionally, it’s interspersed with animated sequences which add an extra inventiveness to the tale and demonstrate Watts’ previous training as an animator. The cast are relatively unknown in the UK - Justine Clarke appears in Japanese Story, William McInnes and Anthony Hayes (both from TV’s Blue Heelers) – but it’s a team effort that gives it emotional power. Look Both Ways continues to demonstrate the resurgence of new Australian cinema, following the recent successes of Lantana, The Proposition, Little Fish, and Candy.
DVD extras include an interview with director; short film by Sarah Watt and it is released in the 29th of January priced £19.99.
