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Early into the namesake for\u00a0<\/span>A\u00a0Big Bold Beautiful Journey<\/i>, David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) venture back in time to his high school, on the night of his first heartbreak. He clutches his chest, but smiles \u2013 laughs, even. \u200b\u201c<\/span>It feels exactly like it felt,\u201d he says, visually giddy at the sensation of the same earth-shattering pain coursing through his body that he experienced at age fifteen. For David, being able to feel that strongly is a\u00a0rare and special thing.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of gentle yet potent emotion that the video essayist-turned-director Kogonada (<\/span>Columbus<\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>After Yang<\/i>) made his name in \u2013 those exchanges of surprising honesty and tenderness, unveiling deep wells of feeling beneath the simplest of gestures. But in every other way,\u00a0<\/span>A\u00a0Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u00a0<\/i>is (<\/span>Star Wars\u00a0<\/i>TV<\/span> work aside) unlike anything the filmmaker has made before: an ambitious studio-backed odyssey through past and present, memory and reality. Or at least, an offbeat version of reality. It kicks off when David picks up a\u00a01994<\/span> Saturn SL<\/span> from a\u00a0mysterious car rental agency that also offers a\u00a0seemingly sentient GPS<\/span>. He drives off to a\u00a0wedding and hits it off with Sarah before they part ways the next day, that is, until they\u2019re swiftly rerouted back together again for an adventure through magical doors that allow them to relive their most formative memories.<\/span><\/p>\n The DNA<\/span> of Kogonada\u2019s earlier contemplative dramas comes through in the meandering conversations David and Sarah have on their impromptu road trip. It\u2019s a\u00a0long-winded way to fall in love, but in confronting the moments that calcified them, they eventually embrace the opportunity for connection. But\u00a0<\/span>A\u00a0Big Bold Beautiful Journey\u00a0<\/i>really has more in common with Makoto Shinkai, whose films contain an unabashed earnestness that\u2019s as vast as their fantasy worlds. That reverence for anim\u00e9 runs through the music as well, with a\u00a0delicate score from the legendary Joe Hisaishi that\u2019s more minimalist than his Studio Ghibli collaborations \u2013 but equally as transportive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s only a\u00a0shame that it\u2019s countered by some baffling needle drops that more likely came from the mind of a\u00a0studio exec than Kogonada\u2019s. The script from\u00a0<\/span>The Menu\u00a0<\/i>scribe Seth Reiss also inches towards feeling simplistic and aggressively twee, but Kogonada elevates the material. \u200b\u201c<\/span>We have to perform to get to the truth,\u201d Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge\u2019s rental car clerks tell David before handing over the keys. It\u2019s an obvious line that lays the groundwork for his and Sarah\u2019s forays into their past, but the filmmaker stretches the concept to the abstract when the pair confront each other in a\u00a0black box theatre space. Here, life is a\u00a0performance that\u00a0rehearsal time can\u2019t perfect. The mistakes and the slip-ups, the embarrassment and pain, are just as necessary as the joy and\u00a0glory.<\/span><\/p>\n And how glorious it is. Kogonada continues to bring out the best in his\u00a0<\/span>After Yang\u00a0<\/i>star, Farrell \u2013\u00a0especially in a\u00a0show-stopping sequence set at a\u00a0high school musical performance of\u00a0<\/span>How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying<\/i>. He also provides the space for Robbie to tap into levels of vulnerability she rarely accesses. Operating on a\u00a0grander scale, Kogonada still retains his singular, warm sensibility \u2013 and if you can succumb to the film\u2019s heart-on-its-sleeve sentimentality, it\u2019s a\u00a0journey worth taking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n