Are we there yet?

Hit the Road Cast: Hassan Majuni, Amin Simiar Director: Panah Panahi Duration: 1 h 33 m Hit the Road is playing in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Sudbury, and on April 29 in Saskatoon, Regina, Ottawa and Kingston, with other locations to follow.

As opening dialogue goes, Hit the Road hits the ground running. “Where are we?” asks Mom from the front seat of a car stopped on the side of the road. Her young, hyperactive son in the back answers: “We’re dead.”

Things won’t get much clearer for quite some time in this assured first feature from writer/director Panah Panahi, son of Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Mom, Dad and two kids are on a road trip across Iran. They seem to be taking their older son (who barely speaks), to a meeting of some sort.

Tensions are high. Dad has his leg in a cast, although there’s a suggestion he might be faking it. Mom keeps fighting back tears. The dog is sick; Dad was supposed to have it put down, but somehow didn’t. And the youngest child just. Won’t. Shut. Up.

What emerges is a sidelong glance at the sometimes paradoxical state (I use the term both politically and psychologically), that is modern Iran. Panahi illustrates the dynamics of parenting, spoils us with glorious natural scenery, and provides an extended shoutout to one of my favourite films, 2001: A Space Odyssey. What’s not to love? ★★★½