Hit the Road opens on April 22 in N.Y.; May 6 in L.A.
Discovering new cinematic talent is always exciting, but it usually involves a “diamond in the rough” artist who portends a lot of potential for what they’ll do next in their career. In the case of Iranian writer/director Panah Panahi and his theatrical debut, Hit the Road, it’s actually a bit staggering to witness an assured filmmaker come right out of the gate with such an accomplished piece that is both intimate yet cinematic.
Essentially a road trip film, Hit the Road opens with an Iranian family already deep into a car journey to an undisclosed location. It's in the cramped and confined space of a compact SUV that we’ll get to know this family through their mundane interactions. Mom (Pantea Panahiha) is the competent matriarch, who frets over her very quiet 20-something son, Farid (Amin Simiar), and her precocious and hyperactive 6(ish)-year-old son (Rayan Sarlak). Bringing up the rear in the backseat is the patriarch, Khosro (Hassan Madjooni), who is laid up with a broken leg. A bit taciturn yet witty, he is content to fill a more passive role, serving as a quiet referee for his youngest son’s loud impulses or as the purveyor of mostly ignored suggestions. Khosro is the welcome antithesis of an Alpha male in this family dynamic. Instead, it’s both Farid and mom who take the driver's seat, literally and figuratively, coordinating rest stops, car maintenance, and navigation throughout their drive until they reach their mysterious end of the road.
Wisely, Panahi makes the film all about the journey and not the destination, as the reason for the trip is vaguely framed as having to do with Farid. No one discusses it in depth, and when the youngest curiously brings it up here and there, everyone deflects and says Farid is leaving to marry but he’ll be back someday. There’s clearly more to the story, but the movie isn’t concerned with revealing those details. Instead, it’s focused on the feelings churned up by a family that is moving towards a life-changing goodbye. The impending separation permeates the piece, eliciting the entirely relatable dread felt by any family watching a child go off to college, war, or just their adulthood.
What could have been a real downer of a story in other hands is instead the opposite. Panahi captures the drive with the lens of a documentarian, naturalistically showing the barely contained chaos of a long car ride stuffed with people who both love and annoy the crap out of one another. When the adults give into small moments of melancholy, the rambunctious kid is there to swing the tone back to the absurd so nothing gets maudlin. Conversations about grade school crushes and Batman ping about the car with no rhyme or reason but they are unfailingly interesting and reveal plenty about each of the characters. The route puts them in contact with some unexpected strangers who add some scope to the dynamics of the family, which keeps the interior of the car from getting stale.
The cast is also fantastic. Madjooni hopping on his crutches with messy hair looks like an unmade bed, but there’s a depth to him that comes out when the camera catches one of his thousand-yard stares that are underscored with a spare piano tune that alludes to so much going on within. Simiar gracefully embodies a very interior role, filled with the anxious energy of an emotional young man on the precipice of adulthood. But Panahiha and Sarlak steal just about every scene they are in. Panahiha has such a soulful face, which can alternate from impish while singing along to the car radio to shattering when she lets the camera see the weight of what the impending separation from her child is doing to her. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum is Sarlak, who is a revelation as this ball of energy that is the glue of the piece. He’s so naturally vivacious and sincere with his performance that you forget there is a camera pointing at him. He’s utterly guileless and convincing at playing a kid just along for the ride with these people who must certainly be his family. It’s a star-making role.
Whether it was through intense rehearsals or just the alchemy of the right talent, Panahi’s script and approach to capturing the material comes across as effortless. But he’s obviously put a tremendous amount of thought and effort into making even the smallest scenes count so they build upon one another to earn a third act that rewards us for investing in this family. The family's humor, their pop culture touchstones, their irritations, and their feelings transcend language or geographical boundaries and remind us of the things that make the human experience so poignant and profound.
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This could be a real lead forward for personal gaming... Revolutionise gaming
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