road trip

UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS: offbeat, then surreal, finally redemptive

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Photo caption: Matthew August Jeffers in UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS. Courtesy of Unidentified Objects Film, LLC.

The Odd-Couple-On-A-Roadtrip dramedy Unidentified Objects takes us on a singular journey – from the offbeat through the surreal to the redemptive.

The self-isolation of anti-social gay dwarf Peter (Matthew August Jeffers) is disrupted when his neighbor, the chirpy sex worker Winona (Sarah Hay) insists that he provide his car for her drive from New York to Canada. She seeks to keep an appointment there with her space alien abductors. Wanting nothing to do with Winona or any aliens, Peter is nonetheless driven by financial necessity to agree.

In every social situation, Peter is quick to find (or manufacture) a grievance and explode in a torrent of invective; the rest of the time Peter seethes, leaking unpleasantness. It turns out that he is grieving the loss of a close friend – and with an overlay of guilt.

The trip is eventful. The two encounter lesbian cosplayers (one proud to cosplay full time – is that a thing?). Peter has dreams of a traffic stop by an extraterrestrial highway patrolman and of unexpected kindness in Canadian roadhouse.

Matthew August Jeffers (Peter Hobbes) and Sarah Hay (Winona Jordan) in UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS. Courtesy of Unidentified Objects Film, LLC.

Yet the tone of Unidentified Objects is neither is not zany nor madcap. In his first feature, director and co-writer Juan Felipe Zuleta has created a character-driven story – no matter the odd occurrences, the roots of Peter’s unrest are simmering just beneath the surface. The story is about what Winona finds at the end of her trip, and, more profoundly, what Peter finds at the terminus of his.

Zuleta’s dream sequences are vivid and realistic – and all the more surreal because they seem real (until they don’t).

Through most of the film, Peter’s bitterness becomes grating, but, for those who hang in there, the payoff is worth it.

The US premiere of Unidentified Objects is at Frameline – in person on June 19 and streaming after June 24.

Matthew August Jeffers in UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS. Courtesy
of Unidentified Objects Film, LLC.

HIT THE ROAD: a funny family masks their tough choice

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Photo caption: Pantea Panahiha and Amin Simiar in HIT THE ROAD. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

In Hit the Road, we join an Iranian family’s road trip. It’s a relatively uneventful journey through barren countryside, but it’s unforgettable because of the characters and the reason for their trip. Their motivation is more loaded than it first appears.

The 20-year old Big Brother (Amin Simiar) is driving the little four-door hatchback sedan, with Mom (Pantea Panahiha) in the front seat. Dad (Hasan Majuni) is sprawling in the middle of the back seat, his leg in a massive cast. The six-year-old Little Brother (Rayan Sarlak) is bouncing around the back. An old dog (literally on his last legs) is in the way-back.

The first thing we notice us that the little kid is very precocious and a tornado of energy, a naturally caffeinated rascal. He has no volume modulation dial, and this kid is going full blast all the time. Fortunately, he is really smart and mostly funny, and his parents have built up a tolerance, so they don’t bind and gag him (which, admittedly, briefly crossed my mind).

The second thing we notice is the banter between the mom, dad and little kid. They are sarcastic, always teasing, and hilariously deadpan. Everyone is constantly tossing off playful threats. Everyone, that is, except for Big Brother, who sits behind the wheel in stoic silence, steeped in melancholy.

That’s because he knows the real reason for the trip, which the parents have not truthfully disclosed to the kid brother. That reason is never made entirely explicit, but there’s a telling clue over halfway through.

[MILD SPOILER: Suffice it to say, sometimes parents must lose their child to save him.]

Hasan Majuni and Amin Simiar in HIT THE ROAD. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The acting is top-rate. Hasan Majuni is perfect as the dad, a guy you can imagine holding forth in front of the TV and bellowing, “Hey, bring me a kabob”. He is jovial and commanding, even when hobbling along on his cast. But when the dad is unwatched by anyone else, his thoughts are of what is ahead for his family – his look intensifies as it takes on loss, determination, grief and resignation.

Pantea Panahiha is just as excellent as the mom, caustically funny, but with strong emotions sometimes leaking out. She’s just trying to make sure the little kid doesn’t notice.

The Wife liked Hit the Road even more than I did. I found this especially significant since I generally enjoy both international cinema and challenging films more than she does. She particularly admired and was drawn in by the acting, especially by Majuni and Panahiha.

Rayan Sarlak in HIT THE ROAD. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

Hit the Road is the first feature for writer-director Panah Panahi. Panahi clearly has a gift for making the most from a low budget, a tiny cast and a bleak landscape.

Hit the Road premiered at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and then took to the festival circuit, including SFFILM 2022. It is now in theaters.

COMPARTMENT NO. 6: a surprising journey to connection

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Photo caption: Seidi Haarla and Yuri Borisov in COMPARTMENT No. 6. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

In Compartment No. 6, an odd couple must share the same claustrophobic compartment in a dreadful train ride to Murmansk. She aims to see ancient petroglyphs, and he is heading to a job in a massive mining operation, but they’re really on a journey to human connection.

Compartment No. 6 won the Grand Prix, essentially the second place award, at Cannes; (in 2022, as in recent years, the Grand Prix winner is a much better movie than the winner of the more prestigious Palm d’Or).

Laura (Seidi Haarla) is a mousy Finnish college student in Russia, studying Russian language or archaeology – it’s not exactly clear. She is having a fling with a 40ish Russian professor, and Laura is more deeply invested in the relationship than is her new girlfriend. Laura is out of her depth with the girlfriend’s academic friends. The girlfriend cancels their planned trip at the last moment, and Laura, disappointed, still heads off to Murmansk on her own.

Given the discomfort of Russian train travel, this multi day trip is not for the faint-hearted anyway, but Laura is alarmed to find herself sharing a second-class compartment with a nightmare of a roommate. Ljoha (Yuri Borisov) is an obnoxious drunk, a slob leaving a trail of cigarette ashes and partially eaten sausage. This is a guy devoid of intellectual curiosity, who has never had an original thought. What he possesses in mass quantities is macho boorishness – his icebreaker is “are you traveling alone to sell your cunt?”

More restrained when he is sober, Ljoha is socially inept. As emotionally vulnerable as is Laura, so is Ljoha – he’s just trying very hard to hide it with bravado.

What is important to Laura – and to Ljoha? Fundamentally, each needs to find human connection. Compartment No. 6 takes us on their unpredictable journey. This is not a conventional hate-each-other-and-then-fall-for-each-other movie romance.

Compartment No. 6 is hardly an advert for Russian passenger trains. The train attendant is surly and officious, the running water doesn’t work, and the dining car menu is ever diminishing. The passengers are constantly smoking, and they have no ability to wash themselves. As the trains winds northward, you can’t help but imagine the rancid odors.

Compartment No. 6 is the second feature for Finnish director and co-writer Juro Kuosmanen. Boy, I liked this movie.