Sarah Watt has a considerable reputation for her award-winning animated shorts. Look Both Ways, which cleaned up at the last Australian Film Institute Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay), marks this talented director’s effortless transition to
feature film-making. Opening with the idea that everyone is but a moment away from disaster, and craftily wresting the proposition around to a life-affirming optimism, this is an imaginative, humorous and truthful contemplation of human reaction to the inexplicable. Set over the course of a sweltering weekend, the film tracks a collection of everyday characters confronting a variety of crises in the wake of a train accident. Among the many pleasures of Watt’s beautifully crafted screenplay is a knack for giving voice to thoughts usually left unspoken. Audiences everywhere will respond to the razor-sharp wit and deep emotional chords struck as this collection of troubled souls externalise the internal and muddle their way to happier stations of life.