Directed by: Kogonada
Written by: Seth Reiss
Run Time: 1 hour 49 mins

While Margot Robbie has remained busy behind the scenes as a producer, it’s been over two years since she last appeared on the big screen herself. Her most recent starring role was in Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar hit Barbie (2023), and for her return to acting she’s once again embracing the fantasy genre – this time, in Kogonada’s new romance, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.

His film follows David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie), two strangers who meet at the wedding of mutual friends. Despite hitting it off, the pair decide to head home separately, but one stalled car and mysterious GPS system later, they suddenly find themselves on the titular big bold beautiful journey. One that sees them venture through a series of magical doors leading to defining moments from their pasts. And as they navigate their memories of loss, love and heartbreak they must decide if a shared future is written in the stars, or if their time together is nothing more than a fleeting road-trip romance.

Things certainly take a moment to get into gear, opening with a peculiar setup involving a quirky Kevin Kline and foul-mouthed Phoebe Waller-Bridge in charge of a curious car rental company. It’s an odd place to start and one that threatens to alienate audiences before the real journey even begins. However, Waller-Bridge (and her perplexing German accent) are probably the film’s strangest note, as once the main premise starts to gain momentum, it’s proves very easy to become accustomed to.

No doubt helped by how committed Kogonada is to the fantastical world he has created. As while David and Sarah get to know each other, instead of simply retelling stories from their pasts, they literally get to step into them. It’s a wonderful, visually intriguing take on dating that is equalled by Benjamin Loeb’s glossy cinematography, adding to the romanticism of their surreal journey together. As whether it be the stunning view from a lighthouse or the more detailed artwork observed from a museum after hours, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is always interesting to look at.

It sounds amazing too, with Joe Hisaishi – the musical heart of many Studio Ghibli films – providing a thoroughly charming score that’s as pleasing to the ear as the colourful visuals are to the eye. His quaint and delicate piano melodies capture the fancy of falling in love, while his string and woodwind additions aptly accompany the many unpredictable twists and turns that come with new romance. It’s a really pleasant, stirring score that affectionally affords the film much of its hard earned nostalgia, and in doing so becomes one of the year’s finest.

Although, even with this attention to detail in creating such an appealing and creative cinematic landscape for its story to unfold in, its fondness for the sentimental will likely prove divisive. It certainly doesn’t shy away from the heart of its story, instead embracing its emotional reflection of its central couple, pondering if the people they are now can make peace with the people they once were. More cynical viewers will insist the film is manipulative, but something that wears its heart as firmly on its sleeve as this can surely only be considered sincere.

Especially when its leading co-stars are so convincing, the endearingly optimistic Colin Farrell particularly so. Yet, both he and Margot Robbie invest themselves in their characters’ personal histories, actually more so than the central romance, which is what makes it all the more engaging, and perhaps believable. It’s more a film about opening your heart for the chance to love, rather than finding the forever one – if such a thing exists. As even with all its grand romantic gestures and abstract ideas, the screenplay’s narrative conclusion feels surprisingly apart from this idealism, subsequently feeling a little jarring, but also, refreshingly honest.

And if the film’s one thing, it’s honest. After all, its larger than life plot is undeniably big. Its final assessment of romance is rather bold, and its absorbing score and picturesque visuals are without question beautiful.

Star Rating: ★ ★ ★