Iran nowadays. A family is on their way to a secret destination. In the back of the car, the father wears a cast, but did he really break his leg? The mother laughs at everything, but doesn’t she refrain from crying? Their little boy never stops joking, singing and dancing. Everyone is worried about the sick dog.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
Yes, Panah Panahi is the son of Jafar, one of the leaders of the Iranian new wave. The comparison with a filmmaker celebrated for his award-winning films all over the major festival circuit (The white ball, The circle, Taxi Tehran), whose disputes with the authorities of his country also made the headlines, could have been heavy. In the end, she is not at all.
Launched last year at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight, hit the road (On the way ! is the title of the film in Quebec) is a very convincing first feature film. We find there the spirit of a movement of which the father of the director is one of the greatest voices, while displaying its own identity. That the story is subtly built around the desire of a young man to free himself from his family to find his own way is probably no coincidence.
The very first scene of the film, already, is magnificent. To the sound of a classical piece, we see a child strumming on a keyboard roughly drawn on the cast that his father wears on his leg. We are inside a car. We also discover his mother, seated in the front, the dog who travels with them in the back, as well as the young driver, who we quickly discover is the eldest brother. One might think this family on the road to vacation, but it is not. This is precisely the strength of a story where the keys are not given to the viewer from the outset.
Sprinkled with visually very strong sequences, hit the road stands out thanks to the mastery displayed by the filmmaker in modulating his tones, often within the same scene. Despite the more serious situations it depicts, Panah Panahi also offers more euphoric moments, more rarely seen in Iranian cinema, thanks in particular to the presence of a hyperactive little boy, very natural in front of the camera.
Drama
hit the road (VF: On the way !)
Panah Panahi
With Hassan Madjouni, Pantea Panahiha, Rayan Sarlak
1:33 a.m.
Indoors