Hit the Road
Part of: 2022 UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema
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Hit the Road
Iran, 2021
In his feature debut, writer-director Panah Panahi (son of Jafar Panahi) spins something wonderful from an activity best known for its exacerbations: the family road trip. When the film opens, they’re already underway: father, in the back seat with a broken leg and their precocious younger boy; mother, silver-haired and up front with their oldest son who’s behind the wheel. (The family dog is in there somewhere, too.) Where they’re going and why is unclear but if their journey has mysterious origins, the family itself feels eminently familiar. Tightly packed in the car, they’re comfortable together with their well-worn affections and rivalries—even if a new anxiety feels every present underneath. At each rest stop, Panahi reveals more of the thriller entangled with his intimate family portrait but in the end it’s the drama of the everyday that wins out—the longing, the hope, and the hurt of parents sending their kid off into the world on their own.
DCP, color, 93 min. Director: Panah Panahi. Screenwriter: Panah Panahi. With: Hassan Madjooni, Pantea Panahiha, Rayan Sarlak, Amin Simiar.
