![]() But it's also very funny, which I'm less used to.Īnd when the car finally pulls up in front of a squad of rather sinister-looking people-smugglers, and the Kid leaps out with a friendly "Hello villagers!" it's hard not to be reminded of other road movies like Little Miss Sunshine. Hit the Road has all the character subtleties - and slow release of information - we've come to expect from Iranian films. If he's crying he's OK, says Dad nervously. As they pass a group of cyclists, the Kid rolls down the window to talk to them.ĭistracted, one rider smashes into the side of the car. ![]() The parents have sold up everything - the car they're driving is a rental, which is why Dad is so paranoid that the young Kid will scratch it.ĭad clearly knows his son. The older son is being sent - or allowed, it's not quite clear - overseas to seek his fortune. Seatbelt, rearview mirror, look both ways…. #The roadmovie how toHalf the movie he's trying to negotiate a cigarette lighter, and the other half he's reminding the Older Brother how to drive the car. Tell him anything, and it'll be round the neighbourhood in half an hour.ĭad has not only got a broken leg - in slightly mysterious circumstances - but he's also broken both wrists. What sort of upbringing are we giving him? Just endless lies, lies, lies… It's clearly been a family decision, but one that the Kid - none of the characters seem to have names, just descriptions - has been left out of. "Onward!" he yells, and we're off on a road movie that takes the family from one end of Iran to the other - first the desert, then fertile plains, rocky terrains and finally, misty mountains where you can barely see your hand in front of your face. And when the phone rings, it all kicks off - in particular the Kid Brother who starts talking and doesn't stop throughout the film. They're waiting for a phone call, releasing them to take off on a clearly hazardous - or at least illegal - enterprise. They're parked by a motorway in the desert waiting for something. Mother and older brother look worried in the front. A car radio plays a classical piano piece, a small boy mimes on a keyboard he's drawn on his father's plaster cast leg. Hit the Road boasts one of the year's most arresting beginnings. So where does a film like Hit the Road fit? You expect stories - and veiled criticisms, maybe - of religious intolerance, and then you're confronted with films as urbane, sophisticated and westernised as A Separation, The Salesman and A Hero.īut suddenly the events of the past weeks shake you out of those comfortable ideas too. ![]() I've been regularly surprised by the films of Iran. ![]()
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