It’s a strange thing to know that a film is bad, but it hits you hard anyway. That was my experience watching ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.’ The film directed by Kogonada and written by Seth Reiss and starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell is beautifully shot and well-acted, but the film’s story is bogged down by an earnestness that leans towards the contrived. The whole film feels manipulative, blasting you with a lush musical score and wall-to-wall songs, trying to elicit an emotional reaction while providing simplistic and easy answers for the challenges that face its complicated characters.
David and Sarah (Farrell and Robbie) are strangers on the way to attend a friend’s wedding. David’s car is indisposed, and he spots a poster for a car rental service on the wall where he parked. It leads him to an empty warehouse where two attendants (Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge) ask very strange questions before renting him a car with a GPS. We see him arrive at the wedding along with Sarah, also driving the same car model. They are introduced at the party and immediately enter a flirting game with Sarah coming in strong and David, quickly shying away. As they leave the following day, David’s GPS begins to talk to him and asks him if he wants to take a “a big, bold, beautiful journey” to which he answers “yes.” This journey leads him to Sarah, whose car has broken down, and together they follow the navigation that leads them to doors that lead them into their past.
There’s a lot of promise here as we discover how David and Sarah have remained single – David, who seems to be afraid to take the leap, and Sarah is constantly sabotaging her relationships – and the two are navigating each other’s traumas to try and get the other to take the plunge. It’s a very verbose film where these two characters are saying exactly what they feel without inhibition. At times, it can get charming, but that’s because Farrell and Robbie are acting the hell out of this script, but as the narrative draws out, it starts to become cloying and tired. It never seems to progress to something concrete.
And Reiss’ script creates a very simple formula for these two characters: key moments in their past has led them to this and the depths of David and Sarah’s complications seems too great for something than what is presented. Maybe it could work if it were a simple direct-to-streaming film with actors who weren’t putting too much into their characters, but this movie is trying to live up to its title: it’s big and bold and beautiful. The imagery and grandeur of its filmmaking make the simplistic writing really come off as weak and easy.
But for some reason, the film got to me. The majestic score by Joe Hisaishi and the cinematography by Benjamin Loeb just worked magic. It was manipulative, for sure, trying to hit all the emotional peaks but it’s also the sincerity of Robbie and Farrell that hit me in my tender spots. The way the film asks us to take a risk for love resonated with me. I am not exactly sold on the writing, but the message was loud and clear.
I left the cinema torn. I could tell that the writing was bad and that the director was doing too much to land the emotional beats but because it spoke to me on a personal level, it still did the trick. I wonder if I watch this film again when I’m more settled with my own issues if that magic would still work. Films can do that sometimes and I love that about it. You could like a movie even if you know it’s not good.
My Rating:
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is still showing on the big screen! Don’t miss the chance to experience this heartwarming adventure on film. Check cinema showtimes near you and grab your tickets today!
