A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Directed by Kogonada
Written by Seth Reiss
Starring Colin Farrell, Margot Robbie and Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Classification PG; 108 minutes
Opens in theatres Sept. 19
In A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie play David and Sarah, impossibly hot people who struggle to commit – not just to each other, but also the very possibility of finding love. They’re not the only ones with commitment issues in this maudlin and whimsical romantic fantasy, in which the two are led by a magical GPS (voiced by Jodie Turner-Smith) on a road trip to hidden doors and enchanted pathways, which takes them back in time through twee memories and life-affirming revelations.
Don’t dismiss the cute premise just yet – despite the tropes, clichés and easy sentimentality in the story, about revisiting the past to help characters better understand themselves. Because A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is the latest from the single-named Kogonada, a writer and director who does an excellent job of marrying the sentimental with the cerebral in movies such as Columbus and After Yang. The latter, which also starred Farrell, was about an AI companion pondering love, memory and existence and dovetails with what Kogonada is up to here, although he was more sophisticated and successful with the earlier film.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is the director’s first time working with a screenplay he hasn’t had a hand in – it’s penned by The Menu co-writer Seth Reiss. And maybe the most appealing thing about the results – apart from Farrell and Robbie, playing characters who can charm the pants off anyone but each other – is Kogonada’s reluctance with the material (again, commitment issues). That shows up in the way the movie wears both its heart and its artificiality on its sleeve.
Margot Robbie, left, and Colin Farrell, right, in a scene from A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.Matt Kennedy/The Associated Press
Kogonada fills the vacuousness in the script with knowing nods to all the performance and illusion we commit to when taking the leap – whether in love or (in its meta way) at the movies. And he does so with consistent reminders that the forces of attraction or fate thrusting David and Sarah toward each other are actually just the machinations of genre and moviemaking.
There’s a reason references to cinematic romances from the past are so in your face – a Singin’ in the Rain poster here, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’s aesthetic everywhere. Meanwhile, Kogonada tends to break up the whimsy and illusion (which is not convincing to begin with but often likeable anyway) by cutting away from David and Sarah during romantic interludes to soundstages where they rehearse the very moments that are being interrupted.
The big journey – where David and Sarah return Christmas Carol-style to their seismic memories, from a high school musical to a death bed – begins with lovesick David moping at home, his blue shirt colour-coordinated with the door and so much more in the very Jacques Demy scenery. He’s on his way to a friend’s wedding in the country, but discovers his car got a boot on it for a parking violation. There at the scene of the infraction is a conveniently placed sign advertising car rentals, curiously decorated with a broken heart.
He follows it to a warehouse where the car rental outfit, which only has a pair of 1994 Saturns on offer, is set up like a casting agency. A deliciously funny Phoebe Waller-Bridge (sitting next to Kevin Kline, asleep at the wheel) directs David through what is either a customer service exchange or an audition with a thick German accent. “I think we perform more than we think we do,” says Waller-Bridge, letting the accent slip briefly, before sending David off on his journey.
Farrell and Robbie in a scene from A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.Matt Kennedy/The Associated Press
At the wedding, where singles can feel especially alone and vulnerable, David meets Sarah. Their meet-cute is bolstered by Farrell and Robbie’s easygoing warmth and charisma but is weighed down by their characters’ self-hating cynicism. They’re not coy about their attraction, but Sarah also happens to be extremely upfront about her fears – she will hurt him just to protect herself from being hurt.
“Do you believe in marriage?” he asks. “You seem smarter than that question,” she snaps back. Her complimentary dismissal – calling out the bull – transcends that moment.
Farrell and Robbie are so much better than this. Their characters say and do things we rarely believe – at least if you stop and think about the shallowness in their platitudes. But we’re tempted to go along with them anyway, because the stars make things so cozy.
The same could be said about the movie as a whole. Its repeated trap doors – not the magical ones that lead to memories but the peeks behind the scenes that peel back layers of tropes and artificiality – could be Kogonada’s signal to the audience that he too is better than this. Or they could be his genuine way to disarm and invite the audience to recognize the contraptions but also appreciate the earnest sentimentality when it’s deserved.
And there are moments that do deserve it, such as a fun musical duet that has Farrell and Robbie performing a number from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; a lovely nighttime tour through a museum, where the art is illuminated strictly by flashlight; and a Charlie Kaufman-esque diner sequence in which David and Sarah confront their worst selves opposite spectres of their broken-hearted exes (Sarah Gadon and Billy Magnussen).
These bits briefly make the journey pleasant, until you realize this movie isn’t headed anywhere worthwhile.
Special to The Globe and Mail
