Hit the Road

A lively young boy, a grumpy dad, an emotive mum, a taciturn older brother, a soulful dog. A family is on a road-trip across Iran to a mysterious border destination. On the way there is much hilarity, much scolding, and much chatting about pop music and Batman. But there’s also pain, of a kind that we can glimpse occasionally but which only comes fully into view in this film’s beautifully transformative final stretches. As poetic, and as full of charisma, as the classics of Iranian cinema.

‘I’d like to leave the perception of the father as well as the other characters and actually the entire film, to the viewers. I don’t like to underline or simplify, but to leave room for viewers to experiment with the film, using their own senses and forming their own interpretations. Life and art are packed with paradoxes and they are richer if we are left to explore them individually. It’s about creating an opening, an elevation above the limitations set out by norms, to create surprises that trouble and enchant (I hope so at least). The Dad character is certainly something of mystery to me. He partly embodies my future, just as the two brothers represent moments of my past.’

Panah Panahi, Director