Film audiences are often only willing to watch love stories in particular contexts. As a touch of spice added to a genre film (action, horror, etc.), they are generally welcome. As part of a prestige drama, they are generally praised. And in the context of romantic comedy (whichever side the emphasis is), they are appreciated. However, the romantic fantasy film, especially if it turns out to be particularly serious, is often derided.
Of course, this wasn’t always the case. Filmmakers like Preston Sturges and especially Ernst Lubitsch made careers out of starry-eyed comedy-dramas about fading adult romance. Unfortunately, the rise of cynicism over the past half-century, combined with an increase in irony poisoning in all facets of pop culture, has made romantic fantasy a particularly misunderstood subgenre.
To be fair, a film in this subgenre doesn’t deserve to be praised simply for its existence, and 2025’s “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” now streaming on Netflix, is not without its problems. The film failed at the box office upon its release in September, and the general consensus was that it was very uneven. In her review of /Film, Witney Seibold described it as “a so-so film, but…not mature enough to understand the machinations of the human heart.” Yet it’s not a stupid film either. Instead, “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is a film that attempts to reconcile intellect and emotion, a theme that director Kogonada continually addresses in his films. Even if he fails to achieve his lofty goals, his serious approach deserves a second look.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is less about a new love than about characters discovering their capacity to love.
“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is a typical romantic fantasy film in many ways, featuring a lonely man, David (Colin Farrell), and a pessimistic woman, Sarah (Margot Robbie), driven toward each other by an unknown mystical force — it could be aliens or some kind of magical car rental company with an all-powerful AI. Ultimately, the point of the film is to examine these two people and their various issues with themselves and the romantic relationships they had during their journey into middle age. Of course, if you’re opposed to magical realism, there are plenty of things to hate about the film. Plus, while there’s a daring quirkiness to its comedy (the F-bomb is dropped a bit), it can seem to chafe at the awkward product placement, the presence of which is ironic at best, cynical at worst.
Yet the key to understanding and hopefully enjoying the film lies in understanding that this is not a film about a whirlwind, meet-and-greet romance between two people who desperately want to kiss. Instead, writer Seth Reiss and Kogonada use the fantasy element of the film to let David and Sarah explore their past in order to try to understand themselves and the choices they made that led them to this point. Ultimately, this is not a romance of desire, but of acceptance, as David and Sarah share these truths and get to know each other in a way that few people can. The love story is therefore less about being carried away by another person and more about mutually discovering that the capacity (as well as the desire) to love still exists.
Kogonada’s film resonates with those of us who still haven’t found what we’re looking for
Anyone who has ever been in love will tell you that a big part of the experience is following your heart more than your head. While this is undeniably true, it can be tricky for those of us who are chronic overthinkers. “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is an attempt to resolve this circle and uses its fantasy to effectively free David and Sarah from the burden of living their lives for just a moment so they can examine them with a clear eye. After all, there’s a reason the movie’s magical device is a glorified GPS. Although this is the first film that Kogonada did not both write and direct, there is a continuity of theme with “Columbus” and “After Yang” in that “Journey” tries to balance intellect and emotion. “Columbus” saw characters find deep humanity in structures of concrete and steel, while “After Yang” posited that artificial beings can have as much of an effect on humans as other humans.
While the film can speak to anyone, it especially resonates for those of us Millennials who started life full of promise and find themselves stuck for whatever reason. This film doesn’t just say that life itself is a big, beautiful journey, but rather causes its characters (and, by extension, its viewers) to try to understand themselves a little better, leading them to love themselves a little more so that they can then potentially share that love. It’s rare to have a film this uninhibited and vulnerable these days, and while its surface-level issues may seem alienating at first, I recommend you try to open your heart to it, at least a little.
