Rating: NR | Runtime: 93 minutes
Release Date: April 22nd, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Kino Lorber
Director(s): Panah Panahi
Writer(s): Panah Panahi

One doesn’t cry in front of one’s mother.

What a stunning feature debut from Panah Panahi (son of Iranian filmmaking icon Jafar Panahi). As heartbreakingly raw in its depiction of a family confronting an uncertain future apart as it is effusively alive with love’s joy, Hit the Road takes us through remote desert villages en route to the Iranian-Turkish border in search of a promise of freedom.

Panahi starts it off like a simple road trip with Mom (Pantea Panahiha), Dad (Mohammad Hassan Madjooni), eldest son (Amin Simiar), and youngest son (Rayan Sarlak) cooped up in a borrowed car eating pistachios and singing along to pop songs before gradually lifting the curtain on motives and ambitions. Is someone following them? Did someone bring a cell phone against orders? Discretion is king.

Why? Because they can’t know who knows what or who they can trust beyond the car. They can’t even trust everyone in the car since Sarlak’s infinite wealth of feral energy makes it so anything he knows might be screamed in public without warning (he delivers a delightfully deranged performance that perfectly offsets the otherwise serious dramatic underpinnings).

So, the family pretends Simiar is getting married and they’re all just driving to keep him company and say goodbye as he leaves the country to start his new life. They pretend whatever transpires at their real destination (a meeting ground of smugglers and the families being left behind) will only be temporary despite knowing in their hearts they may never see their son again. It’s a lot to process—especially when trying to conceal emotions so as not to accidentally ruin the game.

The way the actors interact is authentic and fun with Mom looking through a photo album of all Simiar’s bed-wettings as a child like its a collection of art to Dad constantly messing with Sarlak in the hopes distraction and jokes keep his wild impulses reigned in. Add the presence of a sick dog that was supposed to have been put down as another ticking time-bomb of tragic life lessons for Sarlak to learn and there’s little time to really sit and consider what it is that’s going on.

Talk about selling their house, paying bail, and whether Dad’s broken leg and toothache are real comes and goes in an instant, coloring the proceedings with important context that’s ultimately rendered unnecessary when compared with this family’s impending separation.

That’s all stuff for tomorrow. Hit the Road is about today. Making new memories together. Remembering the ones they already share. Laughing and crying (just don’t let the others see you) as they pretend this solemn excursion is actually a vacation. Because it is … until it’s not. And the pain should only be temporary if all goes according to plan.

Simiar shouldn’t worry about anything but moving forward. Mom and Dad shouldn’t worry about anything but ensuring Sarlak is given the childhood he deserves now that Simiar has grown out of his own to set his new course. And Sarlak shouldn’t worry about anything but superheroes, young crushes, and drawing on windows in permanent ink. Hope and innocence always come first.

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Rayan Sarlak in HIT THE ROAD; courtesy of Kino Lorber.