Going By

On any given day a variety of travelers take the road from Tehran to northern Iraq. On this particular day, four carloads of people take this main road, each for different reasons. The characters do not know each other, and their final destinations differ, but their conversations about life and death have much in common. While staying within the conventions of the road movie, director Iraj Karimi successfully adds a metaphorical dimension to the daylong journey of the characters. By turns, pleasant and profound, GOING BY is a remarkable debut feature for Karimi, one of Iran’s most prominent film critics.