Rachelle Allen
Look Both Ways Essay
‘Look both ways’ is a film about individuals fears. Discuss.
‘Look Both Ways’ is the debut feature film for writer and director Sarah Watts about Six intertwined individuals who are all affected by a devastating train incident. Sarah has used the art of animation and rapid, still image montages to convey the brief imaginary interludes of the film's characters and the fears they possess. ‘Look Both Ways’ depicts the fears of life including fears of death, commitment, responsibility, loss of control, being insignificant and also the fear of tragic events. These animations and montages are seamlessly integrated with the live action and provide a unique element of fantasy while conveying the working of a character's imagination to the audience. This film is based on a central message that bad things happen to everybody, but it is how you cope, make decisions to move forward and ultimately deal with the situations that life throws at you that really matters. The six main characters in the film are presented as Meryl, Nick, Andy, Phil, Anna, and Julia, all of who deal with different tragedies and fears of life and cope with them in different ways.
Each individual is faced with a different fear and copes with it in a different way. This is evident in many ways for each character, for example Meryl, one of the main characters is in her thirties. She is still unmarried and lives in a small flat suffering from the detritus of her life. She is confused and sees herself drowning in mediocrity. Meryl craves a relationship and wants to feel loved and needed. She is intrinsically honest, introspective and empathetic. Meryl worries about disaster striking at any time and frequently imagines bad things happening in daily life situations. Sarah Watts presents an insight into Meryl’s mind by displaying animated scenarios at some intervals, showing her thoughts on being swallowed in the sea, or attacked by sharks. When Meryl meets...