But Hit the Road, from Iranian filmmaker Panah Panahi, gracefully transcends that cliché.

That may sound like the setup to a cloying Sundance movie, some kind of Little Miss Sunshine knockoff. There is, after all, no time like the present.Ī grumpy dad with a broken leg, a nervous mother, a sullen adolescent son, and a precocious kid all set out on a road trip together. At least it’s readily available on June 17 for all to enjoy, before everyone goes off to seek pleasure of their own. Bizarrely, this Hulu film is not getting an Oscar qualifying run in theaters, which would surely set Thompson on the path to awards attention next winter. He has easy chemistry with Thompson, their chatting and bartering bouncing along as Hyde calmly watches from an intimate distance. McCormack, an up-and-coming Irish talent, is one to keep an eye on-or, fine, both eyes. It’s a film as much about age and opportunity as it is about carnal desire. Nancy is trying to make up for lost time, which gives Leo Grande its melancholy lilt. That’s owed in large part to Emma Thompson, who gives a glowing movie-star turn as a widow, Nancy, looking to explore her sexuality with a kind, devastatingly handsome sex worker, Leo ( Daryl McCormack). A talky chamber piece that could easily have been a play, Sophie Hyde’s two-hander (written by Katy Brand) nonetheless feels cinematic.