“Look Both Ways” is a new Netflix original movie that came out on Aug. 19. Lili Reinhart stars in this movie as Natalie. Natalie is very artistic, and is looking to get a career in animation in Los Angeles. She is an organized and set-on-her-goals type of person; she seems to have her life figured out. The beginning of the film shows Natalie at a college party with her best friend, Cara, played by Aisha Dee.

After Natalie takes a pregnancy test at the party, the movie splits into two different parallels of her life from that moment on, one where she is pregnant and one where she’s not. The film follows her life in both versions and leads us through all the struggles and challenges in each version of her life.

This movie was unique in the sense it was not like other Netflix original movies. The plot could be a bit confusing at times when there wasn’t a clear switch between realities, but for the most part it was easy to understand which life was which.

Telling the story in two different ways with two different outcomes made it very enjoyable to watch. This made it feel as if the audience was watching two movies instead of one. Before watching it, the movie seemed to be just another basic story where a girl falls in love and everything turns out okay. But as the movie progresses, it’s clear that not everything goes according to plan.

Throughout the movie it portrays real-life instances that could be likely to occur. One of the parallels shows a young, partly-single mom trying to care of her child, when she doesn’t even fully know how to take care for herself yet. The other half shows a struggling artist trying to create a name for herself in Los Angeles.

A lot of reviewers of the movie have stated that both versions of Natalie’s life seemed to be unrealistically easy, or that there were no real challenges for her. But, there is a less-common idea throughout the movie that proves this opinion to be false. In the first parallel, Natalie has to go through all the hardships of being a young mother: instability, no steady income and postpartum depression, to name a few. In the other parallel, she has to work admittedly hard to even be seen as an artist in a growing industry.

To say that there were no hardships for this character would be inaccurate. Just because everything turned out okay, that does not mean she didn’t have to work for it, or that there won’t be more bumps in the road in the future.

This movie was trying to portray that no life choice is necessarily wrong. No matter which path is taken, there will be unforeseen obstacles along the way, just like Natalie experienced. But, in the end things will turn out okay, even if it takes a while. This is a great lesson because it accurately shows the realistic ideas of patience and perseverance to achieve goals, and making the most of the circumstances.

This movie overall was very intriguing to watch. It’s two stories in one and teaches an important lesson in an innovative way that has not been shown in other Netflix originals.