Look Both Ways review: An interesting story that fizzles out in the end

2.5/5

Story: A day before her college graduation, Natalie finds her future divided into two possible scenarios — one where she gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby, and the other where she fulfils her professional goals.

Review: Netflix’s latest film Look Both Ways borrows its core idea from the 1998 film Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow. While in Sliding Doors, the female lead’s future depends on whether or not she catches a train, here the protagonist contemplates “what if” scenarios while awaiting the result of a pregnancy test. And though the plot and the characters manage to keep us engaged to an extent, it gets bogged down by cliches and a predictable storyline.

Directed by Wanuri Kahiu and written by April Prosser, the film is centred on twentysomething Natalie (Lili Reinhart) who is about to graduate from college. She has envisioned a five-year plan for herself, wherein she graduates college with good grades, moves to LA with her best friend Cara, and lands her dream job as an illustrator. What she certainly didn’t plan is a one-night stand with her friend Gabe. Things get more complicated when she finds herself throwing up in the middle of a party on the eve of her graduation. And before we know it, we see her deliberating on two realities. In the first scenario, she gets pregnant and moves back to her parents’ house, while in the other her life progresses almost as planned.

The best aspect of the film is the smooth transition between these realities. It doesn’t feel forced but organic and seamless. Though the narrative swings between the two parallel stories, the film leaves no room for any confusion in the minds of the audience. Also, the director and cinematographer have made good use of light to show the difference — warm tones are used to depict Natalie’s life in LA, whereas the motherhood phase is portrayed through hues of blue. By the end of the film, both these storylines blend in together perfectly.

What bogs down the film is the lack of substance in the plot, and, of course, the cliches. While Natalie decides to keep the baby and gives her five-year plan a break, the film doesn’t showcase the struggles that a jobless single mother must endure. We get to see Natalie changing her baby's diapers, dealing with hormones, and crying on her couch while her friends live the life she dreamed of. Life can get a lot tougher than this, and, therefore, it’s hard to connect with her character here. If we were to compare the two storylines, the second one is more developed. She gets the opportunity to work with her idol but soon realises that she wasn’t really ready for the job. We get a sense of reality check here.

Both the storylines have different sets of characters. The first one is dominated by Natalie’s parents and her friend Gabe, while the second has Cara and Natalie’s boyfriend Jake. However, their character arts are underdeveloped. All that is said about Gabe is that he is a History student who earns his living through dry cleaning and dreams of becoming a musician. The film doesn’t delve much into Jake’s character either.

Reinhart delivers a compelling performance as Natalie despite the flaws in the film. Danny Ramirez plays his part well as Gabe, and so does David Corenswet as the handsome and flirty Jake. The film also features Luke Wilson, Andrea Savage, Aisha Dee, and Nia Long.

Verdict: Look Both Ways could have been a better film if the characters had more depth and if there was more meat to the story. It doesn’t have much to offer but fans of the genre might enjoy the film.