Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu (Rafiki, From a Whisper) makes her Hollywood debut with Netflix’ film Look Both Ways, a quirky tale of what-if, in which we witness two timelines diverge and play out with marked differences. Lili Reinhart (Riverdale) stars as Natalie, a young woman on the cusp of her graduation with a five-year-plan that involves moving to Los Angeles and becoming a successful animator. During the run up to her graduation, her good friend, Gabe (Danny Ramirez, Top Gun: Maverick) and her have an unexpected one night stand that precipitates the junction in timelines.
On graduation night, she’s sick in a party bathroom and her friend Cara (Aisha Dee, The Bold Type) brings in a pregnancy test, along with an extra one just in case. One thinks of Roe v Wade at this development, because regardless of the outcome she may still have her options, but that quickly becomes irrelevant because the difference isn’t in whether she chooses to keep the baby or not, but whether she tests positive or negative. First she’s not pregnant, and she’s relieved to be back to her freedom of mind and five year plan, and moving to LA with Cara. She gets up from the toilet seat and sips more drinks by the sink. Within the same shot, we see the camera pan back to the seat and the scene plays; what if she was pregnant? Cara comforts her, and the movie turns into a dual narrative.
Look Both Ways begins with visual promise, and continues this dreamy fabric as we see one Natalie go to LA with Cara, bursting with life; and another, moving back with her parents, about to become a mom at 22. After that the movie is shot rather plainly, look here then look there, with the Los Angeles timeline being the more pithy. There Natalie begins job hunting, and comes across a listing for an assistant to an idol of hers, Lucy (Nia Long, The Best Man). She begins working for her, dealing with a personal artistic crisis as she is consigned to merely ‘rolling calls’, when what she really wants to do is draw. At the same workplace, she meets a confident charming man she begins a relationship with, Jake (David Corenswet, Hollywood).
In the other timeline, Natalie lives with her parents, stalks friends she clearly thinks are better off, and deals with the day to day complexities of being a co-parent; she and Gabe don’t initially think coming together for the sake of a child is wise. There is just so much more going on in Los Angeles, that Natalie’s dreams of moving there aren’t lost on any audience member.
Since there is, apart from geography, the obvious distinction in love interests, we have no choice but to examine both and pit them against each other; to the death. Instinctively, we are making judgments about which life we would prefer to live; and if we are a little more empathetic than most, we are making judgments about which life the protagonist deserves to live. Both of these guys are very practical choices, even I could flip a coin and take whatever the outcome may be. What becomes more interesting is the circumstances Natalie finds herself in, and what each of these men bring out in her. They don’t really bring out much, Jake starts out strong and individual, even getting Natalie her job with Lucy, only to wind up sidelined by Lucy as the most pivotal turning point in his Natalie’s (so to speak) timeline. He virtually disappears for all intents and purposes, then oh, he comes back. It’s almost as if his character is an over welcomed guest. Gabe, on the other hand, literally waits around for years for his Natalie to pick him. She has all the agency regarding her future, and everyone else around her is inconsequential to her trajectory. But that would be fine, totally fine, if she wasn’t such a bore.
Natalie exhibits this quality not just in one but in both timelines. In LA, she can hardly do anything without the charming cajoling of that guy’s still here (?!). In Texas all she does is whine until she finally gets the bright idea to draw something, seeing as how for the previous hour and a half she’s been calling herself an artist, doing nothing but. In LA, it somehow takes her losing her job to get to that point of sitting down and doodling something. What she does doodle, in both timelines is exactly the same (argh, another missed opportunity!) but is really quite charming. Kudos to the real artists behind that.
Movies are a highly collaborative effort, and the director is the conductor of the symphony that’s played by the cast and crew. Hollywood offers the best of everything, and here Wanuri takes everything at her disposal and wields it with the surety of someone who didn’t have jitters on any day during this life-changing project; but surely, she must’ve had some. What I am trying to say is that the Look Both Ways is confident and sure. I will also add that this is definitely a for-hire job. There is no personality in this. The only trace of Wanuri in this movie is the early opportunity, eagerly seized within the first three minutes, for soft-core nudity; she was just dying to get away from those Kenyan censors. A few quirky moments here and there, a few interesting shots, but ultimately Look Both Ways is a very tame and harmless film; a statement I mean in the worst way.
Look Both Ways is available to stream on Netflix.
