When he arrived on the scene with his feature debut, Columbus (2017), writer and director Kogonada revealed himself to be an artist with his finger on the pulse of the human condition. He further solidified this with his sci-fi drama After Yang (2021), ruminating in the stillness of uncomfortable emotions. His latest directorial effort, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, sees the indie darling stepping into his biggest budget yet while giving life to someone else’s words.
We embark on the titular journey of Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell), who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding. Both are skeptical, but there is an undeniable connection. While driving home the next day, the GPS in David’s rental car asks if he would like to embark on a big, bold, beautiful journey.
When he accepts, the car reunites him with Sarah, who also agrees to embark on the journey via her rental car. The two then go on to relive important moments in their respective lives via a series of random doors.
Screenwriter Seth Reiss’ ambitious premise holds a lot of potential. He immediately immerses us in this heightened reality. The dialogue is silly, the signage is quirky, and saturated primary colors permeate every frame. Reiss asks us to surrender and doesn’t explain this magical reality at all. It just is.
And I was on board for a little bit.
However, as the journey unfolds, the screenplay unravels. It becomes clear that Reiss focused more on the conceit rather than the people at its center. We jump from pivotal places and moments in Sarah and David’s lives—a high school performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the death of a parent, a major breakup—but cut away just as we start to break through to something deeper.
In between each set piece, Sarah and David debrief the experiences. The dialogue spouted is so on-the-nose, they might as well turn to the camera and say, “This is the theme!” Reiss clearly wants to tell a story about love as an act of bravery, but he spends too much time explaining instead of showing.
That’s not to say that all of the moments are bad. Some set pieces had me beaming, some elicited tears. However, any emotional effectiveness can be attributed to Farrell and Robbie as performers first and foremost.
Their chemistry is undeniable as they banter and gaze at each other longingly. While their romance is quick, it’s never unearned.
Not only do they sell the love story at the film’s center, but they also manage to elevate their respective characters into interesting people. David and Sarah are quite hollow, feeling like caricatures of broken people. But both Robbie and Farrell contain multitudes in just their eyes, pulling you in and making you feel an extensive history.
The film really sags when David and Sarah are not together, and it becomes apparent that a lot of this film coasts on their charm as a duo.
Two strangers connecting via magical doors, taking you to pivotal moments in your life, feels rife with material that Kogonada makes soar. And, for all the screenplay’s flaws, Kogonada’s signature flair and empathy can still be felt at the heart of it. In his previous work, he’s taken unassuming locations and made them feel grand. Here, he is really matching the scale of the budget; it’s sweeping and epic in design, but still manages to center the intimacy. It almost feels like a proof-of-concept for Kogonada to direct a big studio musical.
Cinematographer Benjamin Loeb makes Katie Byron’s lavish production design feel like paintings. Some shots deserve immortalization on the walls of a museum. Paired with another tender score from Joe Hisaishi, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey certainly lives up to its name. Visually, it is big, bold, and beautiful.
Kogonada’s vision is clear, and there are moments that will mold a lump in your throat. A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is certainly not ineffective. The screenplay gets in its own way, though, never daring to be as bold as it wants to. It lacks the heft to fully pack an emotional punch, leaving one of our most emotionally intelligent directors with something that’s just pretty to look at.
Review Courtesy of Adam Patla
Feature Image Credit to Columbia Pictures via FirstShowing