Marijanel (00:00):
Welcome to today's show of the Bold Artist podcast. This is a first today we're going to do our very first movie recommendation on today's show. Charla? Yeah. Charla. And I have recently watched the movie, Look Both Ways staring.
Charla (00:18):
We didn't know. We both watched it though. We didn't do this on purpose.
Marijanel (00:21):
Yeah. We were just like in sync with each other and then later said, Hey, did you watch that movie that's new on Netflix, staring Lili Reinhardt, where she lives two parallel lives, um, the same character, but living two parallel lives of what would happen in two what if scenarios. Why we're talking about it on the Bold Artist podcast today is relevant because in the movie Lily Reinhardt plays, um, the character of an illustrator artist. And Charla and I are both advocates for artists getting their stories out there. And we love it. Everytime they're there.
Charla (01:00):
Everytime there's an artist, a character's an artist. I jump to my toes. I'm like, oh, this is gonna be interesting. I won't say good, but interesting. Because sometimes it's really bad.
Marijanel (01:09):
Yeah. And you know what I find, I watch it out of curiosity to see if artists will be portrayed, how artists really live,
Charla (01:16):
Yeah.
Marijanel (01:16):
because there's so many myths around.
Charla (01:18):
Yeah.
Marijanel (01:18):
what it means to be an artist. Who's an artist. How we live. And there's all the bits of like our, our personalities of, you know, if we're even motivated or I don't know.
Charla (01:29):
Yeah.
Marijanel (01:30):
Just so much out there.
Charla (01:31):
All the artsy fartsyness. It's like seeing a Christian in a movie. I'm like, ooh, I usually cringe when there's a Christian character because they're either gonna be really mean and awful and hypocritical, or they're gonna be so cheesy that you can't stand them, like.
Marijanel (01:44):
Right. And so I, like, I was so intrigued to watch the movie just for the illustrative aspect. And I, I am an illustrator. So, I was so intrigued to see, well, what is her life gonna portray as an illustrator? And then I was really pleasantly surprised by the entire storyline. So, it is a very sweet story of, um, on the eve of her grad, her college graduation, um, in one of the, what if scenarios, and I should just say, this might be a spoiler alert. So if you want,
Charla (02:16):
But, it's early on.
Marijanel (02:17):
So,if you wanna pause or stop the Bold Artist podcast and go to Netflix and watch, Look Both Ways and then come back and join us here. If you don't appreciate spoiler spoiler alerts. That's a tongue twister. Um, but in one of her of her lives and the, what if, uh, scenarios, um, Lily Reinhardt finds out that she's pregnant. And I should find out her character's name. I'm, I'm forgetting her character's name. What is it, Natalie, Natalie. And so Natalie finds out that she's pregnant and lives one whole scenario, um, having a baby young, raising the baby and juggling or discovering her, her art life, her art career, and then
Charla (03:01):
And love
Marijanel (03:03):
And love
Charla (03:03):
And love relationship and her art relationship.
Marijanel (03:06):
And then in the second alternate viewpoint, when she takes that pregnancy test on her college graduation night, it was negative. So she said, Woohoo. Um, and, you know, kind of forgot all about, you know, thinking she was pregnant and went on to live her career path without a baby. And without having to juggle that, you know, the, the motherhood aspect of things. And she just went on to be a really, um, career driven illustrator working for a large firm. And I was really interested, like about probably three quarters of the way through the movie. I was afraid it was gonna take a turn where it showed that the path where she chose to have her baby and raise a baby and kind of put her career second. I was afraid it was gonna show, like, just a negative, maybe a negative. Um, I don't know. I don't know what I was worried about.
Charla (04:05):
It could have gone a lot of ways. Like I, I actually thought it was going to, to really come out by saying one path was better than the other, or each path led to the same place. Like, and both are cheesy, both have been done before, but it actually had a very different outcome to that, which was what was so intriguing and enlightening and freeing, I think and truthful.
Marijanel (04:30):
There was a twist, and I was pleasantly surprised. And one of the things that, as you and I discussed and why we would recommend this for artists to watch, was because there was a whole aspect of Natalie discovering her voice as an artist. And what intrigued you and I both was that she lived out one scenario, which was drastically different than the other scenario. And in both situations, she had big challenges of finding her voice as an artist. So, if you're tuning in here today to the bold artist podcast, and you're not sure even what I mean by Marijanel, what does it mean to find your voice? I don't mean a literal voice. I mean, finding your voice as an artist is finding the message and tone in what, what, what you're delivering through your art. Um, but it's not necessarily through a certain medium.
Marijanel (05:25):
So, as a podcaster, I've had to find my voice as, like a literal voice, even, as a podcaster, but as an illustrator, you find your voice, um, which means it's like the tone and message. You could also say find your style, but I see style and voice is a little bit different 'cuz voice is connected to the overall tone and message. And so in the movie, um, in, in the life that she lived, where she was solely career focused, um, one of her superiors challenged her saying, you, your work is derivative. Your voice, I, I don't even sense your voice as an illustrator. And she actually lost her job because she wasn't being original enough. She wasn't using her own voice, and in that demotion or like losing that job, she had to find herself. And, and that's what I was really, I really loved it, that the writers and producers and actors of this movie made this come alive because in the art world, it's so important that we show how hard it is to really find your voice in art. And when an artist does it, it's a huge achievement, um, to reach that place where you find your voice.
Charla (06:50):
Yeah, I think so. And I think what, what I really loved about, I mean, why, why did they need to have two scenarios happening to show that. What I loved, and what I felt was, so I think truthful and, and missing in, in movies and stories, is that one decision that you make in your life is not gonna make or break your future. That getting a big career as, um, an artist, you know, because she was a graphic artist, she was an illustrator, getting that big career didn't make or break her career. It played a huge role in her recognizing how to find her voice and being the single mom with all of like very typical struggles because they're, they're very similar in every circumstance, all the struggles she had as a single mom, she still had to work just as hard in that scenario to come to the same place in finding her voice.
Charla (07:47):
So, the decision to, uh, well, she didn't actually make the decision to have a baby, but in one she had one, one she didn't. Both neither really played, uh, made a difference in how she found her voice, her career didn't make a difference in how she found her voice, her love life and who she ended up with didn't make a difference. Her parents didn't make a difference. You know, it, it was, she had to put in the work, she had to go in the direction and make the decision to actually be, uh, an artist to, to have a unique message, you know, if she wanted to be in a specific place in her life. So, it was that the, the thing that I loved was that it wasn't one decision that made, or one decision didn't ruin it for her I think is kind of what I'm trying to say, you know?
Marijanel (08:32):
Yeah.
Charla (08:32):
We all think there's one path it's narrow. It's simple. And if you miss it, you miss it. But it's not. There's opportunities all along the way, no matter where you go to, to get where you wanna be.
Marijanel (08:45):
Yeah.
Charla (08:46):
And her love life was the same story. It wasn't about that one soulmate. It was about the journey she took and the commitments and the decisions she made along the way to choose who she was going to be with and to choose her voice and her career.
Marijanel (09:00):
Yeah.
Charla (09:00):
That's what I loved about. It was so beautiful.
Marijanel (09:02):
Absolutely. And one of the things that I took note of as I was watching, the two parallel, uh, stories of her life unfold was that it seemed that her challenges were just reversed in the timing of her life. Like she had the same challenges of finding her voice and committing to the loved one, like her, um, her significant other, she had to like, it was almost role reversal.
Charla (09:27):
Yeah.
Marijanel (09:28):
Not role reversal, timing, reversal. And in the, in the, um, scenario where she had her baby young, it was that, um, she had all of her challenges of finding her voice almost happened early.
Charla (09:44):
Yeah.
Marijanel (09:45):
And she became more mature later in, in that scenario. But then in the alternate life it's that she got off to this great big career and everything was dandy. And she ran into her problems later in life because of her work being derivative and her originality lacking.
Marijanel (10:05):
And what I found fascinating was that we never know in life when these challenges will come up and some people encounter things younger, and we have our challenges, like let's say front loaded in the beginning of our life. And then we push through. Or, it's the other way around where we're banging out of the gates and let run into things as we go. But it doesn't mean we're, we're gonna be without challenges and any scenario of life.
Charla (10:33):
Yeah.
New Speaker (10:33):
And it doesn't mean we have to second guess our decisions and it doesn't mean we have to feel like we missed out on something. Like, I hundred percent changed my career to raise my kids. And I did it knowing, um, what I was sacrificing, what I was putting aside for a period of time. And, um, if you sit around wondering what would've happened. If, or what if, what if, you can get yourself really in a tailspin. Especially as an artist, as a creative person who loves to think, and imagine these things, you can get yourself in a tailspin going, what if I, I did something differently. And I love that that movie set it straight. You know, that just set it straight saying it, both paths are gonna have, or any path it's gonna have its challenges. You're gonna have to make commitments. You're gonna have to find your voice any which way.
Charla (11:26):
Yeah. It's I think it kind of gets rid of the idea of the grass is greener on the other side.
Marijanel (11:29):
Yeah.
Charla (11:30):
And I think the baby kind of made... Was almost like the super obvious thing that happened, but the baby wasn't anything to do really with the main point of the story. But so many people think, well, if I have a baby young, I won't get to go on adventures and do all the stuff while I'm young. But if you have a baby, when you're too old, you're also gonna be tired. You know, you're not gonna have the energy that you had when you were 22. So, it's like, the grass is greener. Well, if you, you have the baby young and you're, you're going through the struggles and you look at people your age who aren't, so the grass is greener, but it's the same thing.
Charla (12:03):
When, now that I'm, my kids are grown and, and I had, I didn't even have my kids that young, but a lot of people are having later than me. I look at people my age with toddlers and I'm like, ooh, you know. Like, so, they're looking at, at maybe me who doesn't have toddlers saying, oh, you're so lucky. You've got your kids raised. So, you can always look in, in someone else's life and wish you had it. Or maybe if I had made a different decision, it would've been better, but it's, it's basically not true. It's exactly, as you said, you can have your problems either front loaded or in loaded.
Marijanel (12:33):
Yeah.
Charla (12:34):
And most of the time it's there's problems all the way or along anyways, and we have different commitments and different stories. And then what is so beautiful is that it all came out in her authentic voice as an artist. When she decided she wasn't gonna create derivative art, which was like the word that her boss used, she wasn't gonna create derivative art anymore.
Charla (12:55):
'Cause it wasn't hers. And her, her, her boss knew she had more, more of a story to tell than that. And she went and found her authentic voice and message and began creating unique art. And what I really loved, like the detail, I mean, it's a love story and it's could be considered a little cheesy love story, whatever, but it's not. It's, I think it's really not a typical romantic comedy or whatever. I don't know what the genre of the movie is. We probably should have checked that. But what I loved, as well, is that even when she found her unique, authentic voice, the work she created was not the same, right? Like she creates a specific body of work, and she shows it like on the timelines in the same place, it's the same type of work. She's an illustrator in both stories.
Charla (13:41):
But the story in the work, the character she created was completely different. So, it's not like she was meant to create the hedgehog that Marijanel has created, or that she makes bold color portraits in both shows or both scenarios, it's that she created authentic work from her voice and her experience and her life that resonates with people that was truthful. Because she's not copying what she saw that was beautiful from somebody else. When you, when you create derivative work only, and try to pull it off as your own, it's inauthentic and people read it as inauthentic. They read it as cheesy, or lame, because they can tell it's not from you. But when it's from you, when it's your unique work built on your life, and your experiences, and your skills, and your excellence, then people read it as authentic. It could be beautiful.
Charla (14:36):
It could be about love and the hearts everywhere. It could be about, you know, the darkness in life. But it's authentic, and people read it as authentic. That's, what's beautiful about authentic work and not derivative work and how both of her experiences took her to that point. But her work was not specific to one thing. She wasn't born to marry this guy, to have this kid, and to make this art, right. She was just born to be an authentic artist, and she became it in both scenarios. Because she worked hard. She worked hard in both scenarios.
Marijanel (15:08):
Yeah. Absolutely. And just to clarify, just so everyone's wonder, what did Charla just say about a hedgehog? As an illustrator, I'm, I'm known for a character that I developed called Missie Mae Hedgehog. So, that's the first thing that popped to Charla's mind. There was my hedgehog. Um, and, and so, but you're so right, Charla, that we, we saw her work hard in both scenarios. We saw her dig deep for her voice. And you're right. It, she had a completely, not a completely different style, but a different message in both scenarios that the message came from her heart. And I think that's, that's the whole point here is we're saying, um, that through this movie review look both ways, movie review that you'll find that movie on Netflix. We're saying that, um, the message there about finding your voice is so beautiful and so powerful, and no matter what's happened in your life, no matter what path you're on, you can find your voice. You can find your calling in all scenarios. You haven't missed out. You haven't gone wrong, like, um, in, in the way that you have to sit around and wonder what if, what if, what, if. You, you can still do what you're called to do it at any time. We can get back into finding our voice and discovering our voice. So, how many stars would you give? Look Both Ways.
Charla (16:30):
Okay. I will give it five stars, and I, I just wanna say, disclaimer, I watch all those cheesy, romantic Christmas movies just so that me and my kids can make fun of them. And I, I love, I love, I don't love those movies. I love good authentic movies. I love, you know, deep, thought provoking movies that stir you. And those, I would never give a movie review for something I didn't think had worth and quality. I don't just throw, I don't. Uh, anyways, I won't go too much longer in, into that. I normally wouldn't suggest romantic comedy type movies because is this a romantic comedy? I don't even know if that's what the genre is. I don't,
Marijanel (17:11):
There is some lighthearted sweet comedy, but it's not like a laugh knee slapper.
Charla (17:15):
Yeah. It's not a rom com, I guess.
Marijanel (17:18):
Yes.
Charla (17:18):
Um, anyways, I don't even know what the genre is because I would never rec usually never recommend them, but this one just really has a, a really beautiful story. And I think as an artist, it just, uh, really will resonate with artists because of the outcomes.
Marijanel (17:34):
Yeah.
Charla (17:35):
Um, but I think for almost anybody, who's just terrified of making the wrong decision, you know, terrified they're never gonna find their soulmate, and they're never gonna find their career or that something terrible's gonna happen. Like they're gonna have a baby when they're too young. You know, like a lot of people are scared of these things. And, of course, I would never recommend to my kids to have a baby young. It's tough, and it's hard. But the fact is people have great lives in millions of different scenarios. And this movie really, I think gives, really shows the freedom of just being able to, you know, move forward and not get stuck because you think something happened that was bad.
Marijanel (18:13):
Yeah.
Charla (18:13):
And it's lighthearted, but I think it could be really, really deep. You could take it to a lot of different scenarios in life. Um, and just, I don't know, it's, it's a feel good movie, and I think you'll enjoy it.
Marijanel (18:24):
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, everyone for joining us here on the bold Artist Podcast today. We have all kinds of exciting things going on inside of Bold School. And that is also something you will not regret, and you don't need to look both ways. We can tell you.
Charla (18:39):
We're all good at finding your message in your life and being authentic in the life you're living. So, come join us, sign up and, uh, get some of our newsletters, and you'll figure us out pretty quick.
Marijanel (18:50):
Yes. And we have micro courses that you can actually join for free. We have some downloadable, printable PDFs that you have one on color, harmony, Charla, there's all kinds of really good resources that you can access from boldschool.com as well as our online community, which essentially replaces social media for artists. And we have, uh, an array of amazing informative online classes. And Charla's the founder of the school and paints bold color portrait, and demystifies bold color for us, teaching us the simplicity of how we can paint in abstracted colors. So, anything to add to that before we leave the show today, Charla?
Charla (19:33):
No, I, I think that's it. I could just keep talking about the movie, but I won't.
Marijanel (19:37):
And I could keep talking about Bold School. So, thank you again for joining us on the podcast. You know where to find us @boldschooliInc on Instagram, and on YouTube, the Bold School Channel. Until next time, keep creating.
