Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Look Both Ways (2005)

Director: Sarah Watt

Average user rating
1 review

Movie review

From Time Out London

All is not well in the Australian suburbs. Nervy thirtysomething Meryl (Justine Clarke) imagines disasters at every turn, from horrific train accidents to shark attacks in the local swimming pool, non-existent calamities that director Sarah Watt makes real in the form of watercolour animations – we see the dark side of Meryl’s mind. Fear also dominates the life of Nick (William McInnes), a photographer who is diagnosed with testicular cancer: he can’t help but recall the grim details of his father’s death from the same disease and creates harrowing images in his mind of multiplying cells. There’s more: Nick’s colleague, journalist Andy (Anthony Hayes) has an unwanted pregnancy on his hands, while neighbour Julia (Daniela Farinacci) is grieving for the loss of her husband. Cluttered? Yes. Is this yet another slice-of-life narrative diluted by too many characters and a misguided desire to make grand statements about all life and not just one? Sadly, yes. While Watt (an animator making her live-action and feature debut) begins to offer an interesting study in paranoia, tinged with some good comic moments, her multi-stranded plot and last-minute recourse to romance ultimately lost the interest of this viewer.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2006-08-22 14:44:21

Time Out London Issue 1879

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • gdbwsvlj prvtm said...
    Posted on Nov 13 2007 21:58 migylkpne hjkfipne epytj yiqh ksnhxpcqe utcyim gixhwajky
    Report as inappropriate

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Look Both Ways

Watch Trailer

Cast & crew

Director: Sarah Watt

Producer: Bridget Ikin

Cast: William McInnes, Justine Clarke, Anthony Hayes, Lisa Flanagan, Andrew S Gilbert, Daniella Farinacci, Sacha Horler, Maggie Dence, Edwin Hodgeman, Andreas Sobik full cast

Genre(s): Thrillers, Drama

Duration: 100 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.