Review of ‘Look Both Ways’: To Be and Not to Be

David Smith
Read Time2 Minute, 3 Second
Look Both Ways

“What if?” is a consistently captivating question. What would you do if you were rejected instead of accepted if you chose one career over another if you left a sweetheart or stayed?

The non-Marvel multiverse potential is the evergreen hook of Idina Menzel’s If/Then, NBC’s Ordinary Joe, and Netflix’s forthcoming feature Look Both Ways, starring Lili Reinhart as a recent college graduate whose unplanned baby splits her life into two divergent paths. Imagine a millennial, streaming-era adaptation of Sliding Doors, the 1998 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow as a Londoner whose life diverges due to making/missing a train and, like Look Both Ways, in which a haircut distinguishes the timelines.

This Netflix film depicts an illusion of young womanhood by following the protagonist down two divergent paths: one in which she becomes pregnant and the other in which she seeks a job.

Natalie (Lili Reinhart) is an ambitious senior in college who has planned out her future. But after vomiting during a one-night affair, she takes a pregnancy test.

Look Both Ways

The Netflix miniseries “Look Both Ways” depicts this moment as a crossroads. It imagines two distinct possibilities for our protagonist: one in which her test is negative and the other in which it is positive.

In imitation of the “Sliding Doors” thought experiment, the film intercuts sequences from these two destinies. Natalie and her best friend Cara (Aisha Dee) take a road journey to Los Angeles, where Natalie chases an animation career. At that exact moment, a parallel Natalie bitterly accepts parenthood and moves back in with her chagrined parents to raise the baby (Andrea Savage and Luke Wilson).

The filmmaker, Wanuri Kahiu, uses color as a cinematic shorthand to distinguish between the two realms, adding reds to the set design of Natalie’s thrilling Hollywood escapades and blues to that of her lonelier motherhood in Texas.

This otherwise prominent film is marred by Natalie and the scriptwriter, April Prosser, who essentially overlook a readily available third option: an abortion. It’s unsettling to have Natalie’s unplanned pregnancy presented as a dose of reality rather than a choice, and the film’s release after Roe adds insult to injury.

Look Both Ways

Even though “Look Both Ways” seems to imply that, for women, childrearing and a career are in contradiction, when Natalie reaches a fork in the road, the film does not allow her to consider both options. It forces her down first one road, then another.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Next Post

CCTV Video of John Michael Montgomery Bus Accident What Became Of Him?

Popular American country artist John Michael Montgomery was just killed in a bus accident. Reviews have admitted that he was on his way to his live concert when this fatal tragedy occurred. According to fresh reports, three individuals were horribly injured in the fatal tragedy. This fatal accident occurred in […]
John-Michael