Big Bold Beautiful Journey

M: Offensive Language
Director: Kogonada
Starring: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell
2hr 19min

My favourite part of Notting Hill is that montage of the year Hugh Grant and Julia Robert’s characters are broken up, and he’s strolling through the street market and the seasons change around him and it’s so smooth and clever and whimsical.

A lot of A Big Bold Beautiful Journey gave me the same feeling.
Two strangers meet at a wedding after renting cars from an odd car rental and definitely-not-soulmate service. After dancing around each other that night and leaving separately, their cars’ GPS’s start giving them instructions, drawing the pair back together.

The tone of the film is quirky and playful; at times it reminded me of fellow meta romcom Stranger Than Fiction.

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell both give excellent performances in this surreal and bizarre love story, as both characters grapple with their pasts, their roles in relationships and how they see themselves – and if they are worth ‘the risk’.

If you want a literal answer to everything going on, the film denies that. But if you’re happy enough to go along with the vibes and whimsy, it’s a lovely experience. I took a male friend along (after he got me to watch the nearly three-hour anime Demon Slayer), and even he said it was a great time.

Both characters start out as stereotypes, but the film digs a little deeper into why they are this way without villainising them.

The third act almost drags but the story wraps up really nicely, feeling like a warm hug.

The mise-en-scene is gorgeous and made me want to start wearing primary colours.

Most scenes look like a painting, something out of a high school drama nerd’s wildest dreams.

The soundtrack was a huge highlight for me, with original songs from my new favourite jazz-pop singer-songwriter Laufey.

Perfect if you are in the mood for a feel-good, easy-going, slightly whacky romance movie this weekend. 7/10.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

R13: Bloody violence, suicide & content that may disturb
Director: Haruo Sotozaki
Cast: Natsuki Hanae, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Hiro Shimono
2hr 35min

Going in, I knew nothing about Demon Slayer, but my friends were going. They said it was kind of like KPOP Demon Hunters (it's not), and I still don’t know a lot of these characters' names, but still, what a wild ride this movie is.

This film is the first in three movies that will wrap up the Demon Slayer anime TV show, and the hero team of Demon Slayers have been sucked into the Infinity Castle - and opens with everyone falling endlessly through buildings and buildings at odd angles.

The music really sets the tone and kept me hyped throughout despite having absolutely zero context for what was happening.

The animation is very cool to look at, and the infinity castle concept is so intriguingly designed that it never gets dull to look at, despite essentially being the same setting cut and pasted.

This film is essentially three boss-battles that I imagine the anime show has been setting up for three of our lead characters. One girl finds the demon that murdered her sister, and decides to take him on, then and there.
One guy is ready to take out his former colleague/foster brother who has abandoned the Demon Slayer cause to become a demon, and the last guy takes on who, I assume, is one of the biggest baddies in the show.
From the first two fights, I was hooked. The beauty of anime is the characters always explain the stakes of the fight as they go, and sometimes even pause to have flashbacks to deliver useful context.

It’s really the best case scenario for someone joining the story at the series finale.
The last fight was incredible for the first half-hour. Then our big bad guy gets not one, but two tragic family backstories - which felt long at parts but by the end I was invested.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, and I think I’ll tune in when the next ones come out (apparently three years away) to catch the other two thirds of the story.

If you’re not an anime fan, you might find this a struggle - especially towards the end. But if you love Demon Slayer, or are keen to give it a try, you’ll have an epic time. The film’s last days are this weekend. 7/10.