A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY -- A Vulnerable, Emotional, and Messy Journey

Review by Camden Ferrell

Kogonada has established a name for himself as a filmmaker who can speak volumes within the confines of an intimate and  meticulously paced feature. Both Columbus and After Yang highlighted his abilities to write compelling dialogue and execute it with unhurried nuance. His newest film is A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, his first feature in which he is not the writer. While it plays well to his strengths as a director, this romantic fantasy film ends up being less than the sum of its parts due to a lack of cohesion that undermines it as a complete body of work.

David and Sarah are two strangers who can’t find love for one reason or another. Through fate and an eccentric rental car company, the two strangers meet at a wedding. Afterwards, the decide to embark on a journey together that takes them through key moments in their life in an attempt to retroactively reconcile with their past. It’s a movie that clearly loves the convention of romance films but uses the fantasy angle to distinguish itself in the genre.

Written by Seth Reiss, there are a lot of things working in the script’s favor. It is unapologetically genuine and vulnerable. While it takes a little while to break free from the convention I mentioned earlier, it does find its stride eventually. When it does, the movie has some true gems hidden throughout its messiness. As a whole, the narrative is a bit jumbled and feels uneven in tone and pacing. But in a vacuum, Reiss creates a handful of devastatingly beautiful moments that make you hurt and smile at the same time.

This movie is led by Colin Farrell as David and Margot Robbie as Sarah, and they’re both serviceable in their roles. They fully lean into the more mystical aspects of the story without losing how grounded their characters are. They handle the more subdued moments well, but as a whole, their performance isn’t anything revelatory. They have a strong and well-known supporting cast who aren’t given much to work with, so there’s nothing particularly memorable in that department either.

Given Kogonada’s style of filmmaking, Reiss’ script compliments that style very well. While he didn’t write it, there are several key moments that feel like something out of one of his previous films. He executes the movie with such tenderness and visual creativity (courtesy of cinematographer Benjamin Loeb), and it truly feels like a romance film that at least tries to push the boundaries of that genre. Pair this with a truly mesmerizing score from Joe Hisaishi, and you have a film that’s worth checking out for some of the offscreen talent alone.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a frustrating movie. Some odd pacing and general messiness stop this from being a truly amazing film. It has all the ingredients, and yet it just doesn’t come together in the way one would hope. It’s still a movie worth checking out due to the many things working in its favor. However, it is truly disappointing when you can tell a movie is just a hair’s breadth away from greatness.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is in theaters September 19.

Rating: 3.5/5