A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Expectation: 😶 (I went in with zero expectations. 100% blind: I didn’t watch the trailer or read the synopsis)
Reality: 😍 11/10, no notes for me. I think the people that hate it aren’t very in touch with their emotions or lack some self awareness 🤭
If you haven’t heard of this one, here’s the synopsis: Some doors bring you to your past. Some doors lead you to your future. And some doors change everything. Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David (Colin Farrell) are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present…and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
In my opinion, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey delivers on the BIG, the bold, and the beautiful. This is an emotional film, so one that defines these words differently is not likely to agree.
The film explores human behavior, specifically the element of performance, and how most of us are performing most of the time.
In a world where no one is being their authentic self, how are we ever to truly get to know one another? This is the BIG - the film poses these huge existential questions about who am I, who are you, what are we doing here, and is it enough?
As a girl with a podcast all about being honest and authentic while striving to make people feel seen and known, this is my bread and butter. The writing is beautiful. I laughed, I cried, and I thought about what the filmmakers were trying to communicate for hours after leaving the theater.
Then we get into the bold - how willing are we to face the past? What about the future?
The older we get, the more baggage we bring to our relationships. Our life experience shapes the way we approach new relationships. This film dares to ask, what if, instead of telling someone about your formative moments, you showed them? What if your significant other could experience these moments with you?
We end with the beautiful. Sometimes, we bare our sole to another human, and it’s not enough. Other times it is. Whether it’s enough or not may have nothing to do with us. It may be on the other person’s emotional intelligence or capacity. It may be on timing. Or it could have everything to do with us.
Whichever way we spin it, the beautiful part of the journey is having the courage to try. To live. To take risks, and find people who make these risks worth taking.
Of the critics I saw this movie with, the main complains I heard were that it’s too slow and a bit sappy. These were primarily straight men, who in my experience, traditionally do not gravitate toward romantic movies, so I think it’s just not their cup of tea. Which is totally valid. Every movie isn’t for everyone. But not enjoying something doesn’t mean it’s bad.
I think the slower pacing was intentional on behalf of the filmmakers to give the characters and the audience time to process what was happening. It wasn’t slow to me. I enjoyed every second. But I also enjoy therapy, sitting with, naming and examining my emotions, because I’m always striving to become more self-aware and more empathetic. I imagine that people who are not used to, don’t know how, or do not enjoy doing this would find the film boring and/or uncomfortable.
There are some fantastical elements which I see not working for everyone, but you have to buy into the premise with any film. This one does announce right at the beginning what kind of world we’re going to be living in for the duration of the film. They stick to it, and it works. Some people said it was weird, but I thought it was art.
Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell are a very sweet pairing.
I do think it’s a strange release for the fall, I’d have held it until Valentine’s Day, but I’ll be watching it again. This has been one of my favorites of the year so far.
If you see it — come back and let me know on my contact page. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
