Sarah Watt's Film, Look Both Ways

Pope Paul IV once said, “Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of everyday.” There will inevitably be times of loss, futility and alienation in human lives. It is the natural rhythm of human existence. Facing our own mortality or the transience of those who are close to us will always impel humans to examine their priorities, love for others and fundamental values and principles. Look Both Ways (2005) presents a gallery of portraits that are characterised by varying degrees of loss and pointlessness. Nevertheless, by the end of a weekend of ineffable suffering, despair and disenchantment, characters are on the cusp of equilibrium. Sarah Watt explores the

Within this multi-strand narrative, Look Both Ways was poignantly made in a time where fear was prevalent in society; fear of terrorism and fear of the ‘Other’. Meryl, who flirts with the concept that death is localized around every corner, contributing to Watt’s use of animation, to express Meryl’s anxieties is an innovative and original means of fleshing out a film character. These sketched and painted illustrations delineate Meryl’s demeanor, but also creates an elegiac and poetic atmosphere that is employed within the film, which highlights Meryl’s paucity of spirit. The highly dynamic, almost frenetic style in which they are drawn reflects Meryl’s constantly shifting mind. The perspectives within these animations often shift in a disorienting fashion; for example, in the animation sequence when Meryl imagines herself being shot in her house by an intruder, the camera swoops rapidly between the intruder’s perspective and her own, a jarring technique which conveys her rising panic. Although “everyone has to witness something ghastly one day,” Meryl reiterates that she is forced to observe something horrific several times a day, as evidenced through her animations. However, over the three-day course of her interaction with Nick, the grave and alarming images that circulated through Meryl’s unconscious mind gradually begin to dissipate. As Meryl is given the opportunity to relax in the establishment of her relationship with Nick, she is thus exploring new ways to engage in a proactive way to surpass her fears of death and live her life after having been