A Big Bold Beautiful Journey: Review

A long, lingering, and lovely ride.

In the wake of recent national events; a big, bold, and beautiful journey is exactly what all of us needed. A way to break free from the norms around us and remember the important things from our own lives. What I don’t think we needed, sadly, was this film. But before we get bogged down in negativity, let’s start with some positives.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey follows David and Sarah as their lives are put on a collision course when they both show up to the same wedding, albeit alone. Before the two meet, the movie shows David and his struggle getting to the venue. As he goes to The Car Rental Agency, we’re greeted with a bit of light comedy. Despite that, the dialogue felt heavy. As if every phrase had some sort of foreshadowing tied to it. To the film’s favor, I have no idea what events were foreshadowed, and which were just on the nose. The dialogue was both subtle and unsubtle at the same time. I won’t spoil what I mean by that, as that would overall hurt the experience. But what it did do, was get my mind ready for a film that wasn’t like most other romantic flicks that are released these days.

There’s so much presented in front of us that work. Collin Farrel and Margot Robbie both do exceptionally well here. Which for the lack of a long cast list, they better. In truth, I think this is Robbie’s best performance since her work alongside  Chazelle and Brad Pitt in 2022’s Babylon. As per usual since his debut as Oz in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Farrell is outstanding here.

I was swept away out of the theater recliner and put promptly side by side our core characters from the first moment the score played. I couldn’t help but express this somber feeling that somehow felt nostalgic, familiar. Like I was visiting my home after a long, extended vacation. Nagging the back of my brain throughout the rest of the film, I just couldn’t place my finger on why I had felt that way. It wasn’t until the credits started to roll and I saw who the lead composer was when it finally clicked. The reason why I felt so at home was because this was done by none other than the great Joe Hisaishi. While the score certainly isn’t Merry-Go-Round of Life. If this gets glossed over at the academy awards this winter it’ll be an honest tragedy to musical storytelling and the power it holds over us. In every essence of the word, the score was truly magical.

I had previously mentioned Damien Chazelle, for good reason. Other than his tie to Robbie, this movie oozes with aspects of his style interspersed with storytelling beats seen in some of his works. The type of ambiguity shown between our characters as they undergo this grand journey felt vastly reminiscent to Sebastian and Mia in La La Land. Which, honestly, felt like it took a bit away from what was making A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey special. With any medium, it’s important to show your inspiration proudly, but to not let it drown out your own work. There was a few moments in this where I felt that I’d rather just be watching La La Land again instead of this.

Two of my favorite pieces of cinema are La La Land, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Director Kogonada blends the feeling of these two into something wholesome and deeply touching. Where this fails, however, is in its pacing.

This one is slow. Really slow. As you all may come to find out, I love a good slow-burn. But not everyone is that way. I could easily see this being a movie that people pause halfway through, walk away, and ultimately forget about. I think if this would’ve been a stage play put on broadway it would’ve worked out much better. Coming off of an extremely well written climactic middle, the already slow film comes to a screeching halt as both main characters get their scenes of growth and forgiveness. It’s a very moving sequence of events, but when you’re sitting in a theater or at home, it’s too easy is to get sucked out of the moment. With the immersion offered by a stage play, I think it would’ve fit this story a bit more.

Not everyone will feel that way, I’m sure there’ll be movie goers that leave thinking this is the current generation’s great melancholic romance spectacle. But, much like what this film has taught me, only time can tell. It’s for these reasons that Mid-Tier Critiques rates  A Big Bold Beautiful Journey a 7.5 out of 10.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my review.