“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” all but insists you to think back to paths not taken — or, to use its metaphorical framing, doors not opened.

In theaters this week, the third feature film from director Kogonada does so artfully, offering a narrative that is, somehow, both high concept and quite simple.

The gracefully told and, at times, surprisingly irreverent “Journey” — penned by “The Menu” writer Seth Reiss — stars Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell as single strangers whom fate seems to be trying to put together.

We first encounter Farrell’s David, on the phone talking about going to a wedding alone, assuring that he’s quite content with that. When he finds his car, parked on a city street, has a restraining clamp on a wheel, he sees a sign for a car rental agency.

After eventually navigating the business’ rather tricky door, he enters a large, mostly open space and walks up to a table manned by a mechanic (Kevin Kline) and a charming-but-F-bomb-dropping cashier (a perfectly cast Phoebe Waller-Bridge of “Fleabag” fame). All they have to offer David is a 1994 Saturn SL, which he takes and, after some more-than-strong encouragement, gets the optional GPS. (You never know when your phone is going to “crap out” on you, they say.)

At the wedding, hundreds of miles down an interstate through extremely heavy (and heavily symbolic) rain, David is introduced to Sarah (Robbie), who lives in the same city as he — but downtown, not on the north side, as he does — and with whom he’d already exchanged glances.

Soon, at the rainy affair, they chat and flirt. She even jokingly asks him to marry her, while he says she shouldn’t be afraid of him.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Sarah says. “I’m afraid of hurting you.”

That comment from the woman who, we learn, also arrived via a Saturn from the mid-1990s equipped with a GPS, will make sense later, when they are in one car, having opted into said navigational system’s offer of a “big, bold, beautiful journey.”

We will refrain from saying much more about this tale, but know that Sarah and David’s guided trek will bring them to doors that serve as portals to their pasts and the choices they’ve made, which inform the characters and lend insight into why it may not be so easy for them to give in to their obvious mutual attraction.

Hearing the concept of “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey,” it would be reasonable to fear the film would be saccharine or syrupy, but Reiss avoids that deftly. We wish he had dug just a little deeper into the pasts of “David From the North Side” and “Downtown Sarah,” but he sketches a reasonably full picture of each of them and shows us why they are who they are. His screenplay is impressive in part because it’s such a far cry from the aforementioned 2022 black comedy “The Menu,” also enjoyable, and, we assume, his comedy-writing work for various “Onion” endeavors and “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”

Meanwhile, the work of Kogonada — whose directing credits include the critically adored feature films “Columbus” (2017) and “After Yang” (2021), as well as episodes of the acclaimed series “Pachinko” and the canceled “Star Wars” show “The Acolyte” — is borderline stunning. He pulls the viewer in with a fluid filmmaking style characterized by myriad exquisitely composed shots, with the help of “After Yang” cinematographer Benjamin Loeb. These visuals are accentuated by the mood-setting score by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, known for work on films by anime master Hayao Miyazaki.

Last but not least, there are the film’s leads. Following his exceptional, Emmy Award-nominated work on “The Penguin,” Farrell reminds us he can be compelling even when not covered by hours of prosthetic and makeup work. Having also starred in “After Yang,” the actor gives a multilayered performance that matches the film’s aesthetics perfectly.

“Barbie” star Robbie is similarly effective, going just a bit bigger — but not too big — in some emotionally charged scenes that explore Sarah’s painful history. Robbie toes a delicate line as Sarah wants to be attractive to David while also pushing him away for both of their sakes.

Don’t think twice about going on this “Journey,” guided on the screen by a particularly chatty GPS (voiced by another “After Yang” alum, Jodie Turner-Smith) and driven home by a talented filmmaker, a promising writer and gifted performers.

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‘A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY’

3.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language)

Running time: 1:48

How to watch: In theaters Sept. 19

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