Video-essayist-turned-filmmaker Kogonada has made some of the best films of the last ten years, but his most recent film and his third feature, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, has come out to more mixed reception. The film stars Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie as two people who meet at a wedding under strange circumstances – they have both rented a car (a 1994 Saturn SL) from a strangely advertised “Car Rental Company”. They are then led on a road trip together – by a mysterious GPS system – to go on a “a big bold beautiful journey” together, exploring each other’s pasts not only by talking in the car, but by entering certain literal doorways acting as portals to re-experiencing specific formative moments in their lives.
The film is filled with numerous wonderful cameos, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Kevin Kline, Lily Rabe, Billy Magnusson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Sarah Gadon, and Hamish Linklater, each of whom play a very small part but down to each perfect note. Farrell and Robbie easily carry the movie, with a quiet, pulsating chemistry that is quickly becoming a Kogonada trademark. Robbie in particular brings an overflowing, exuberant energy to the film while deftly sidestepping the potential pitfalls of reverting to the typical manic pixie dream girl trope.
This is the first film that Kogonada directed that he didn’t also write and edit. It does show in some ways – the story is a bit messier than his previous films, but as you would expect, each frame of the film is perfectly and gorgeously composed, and just as precise and exquisite as ever. This is artistry at the very highest level. The little details matter too, like how the colors that the main characters wear are switched by the end, signifying their respective shifts in perspective and the journey that they each undertake in order to reach their final destination.
The tone of the film is a bit of a different story: Kogonada seems to be doing a Charlie Kaufman impression of Weathering with You, with some degree of success. The film is weird and funny and dream-like, intentionally blurring the lines between reality and fantasty, which is an appropriately apt metaphor for two people falling in love. Being in a relationship is being open and exploring your past and families and everything. It is playful and not morose, but not too whimsical. The road trip aspect of it, and particularly the “real life” scenes and conversations in the car, help to ground the proceedings.
The music here is unique too – the legendary Joe Hisaishi (of Ghibli fame) elevates the score here, and there is a sequence that can only be described as Jason Bourne meets avant garde High School Musical theatre. To top things off, we end with a Mitski cover of “Let My Love Open the Door”. The theme of doors (“Timing can be a bit tricky when it comes to opening doors”) and performance (“Sometimes we have to perform to get to the truth”). Say what you want, but Kogonada is a big, bold beautiful filmmaker who will always challenge himself.
Now playing in theatres.
