Movies of Note The Bob’s

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FILM

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RThe Bob’s Burgers Movie The cinematic debut for the long-running animated series about a misfi t family of restaurant owners brings all the quirks and quips of the original Bob’s Burgers, extending to a length that feels just about a perfect medium-rare without fl aming out into a dry well-done.

Creator Loren Bouchard helms the fl ick, carrying the same o eat sensibilities fans have come to expect from the show. The cast all reprise their roles, as Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda Belcher (John Roberts) attempt to save their struggling burger joint from a devastating combination of late bank loans and a giant sinkhole containing a long-cold crime scene that opens directly in front of their entrance. With the—o en unrequested—help of their kids Tina (Dan Mintz), Louise (Kristen Schaal), and Gene (Eugene Mirman), the Belchers scheme up a series of last-ditch eff orts to save their shop and even solve a murder.

Bouchard and collaborator Nora Smith pen a fast and witty script, leaving few breaths absent of side jokes and o anded puns. The pacing of the fi lm drives straight forward, allowing for multiple side stories to coalesce in an entertaining conclusion that even novice viewers to the series will enjoy, while leaving enough room for inside jokes and witty fan service. —ADAM MULLINS-KHATIB PG-13, 102 min.

Chicken

Josh Leong’s 13-minute short Chicken is meant to be a sympathetic look at incarcerated youth. But it does little to challenge carceral systems, instead acquiescing in the idea that it’s the people in prison who are broken, rather than the system that has caged them.

The fi lm features the convincingly anguished Jordan Biggs as a 16-year-old father incarcerated for a violent crime. The boy is a victim of domestic violence himself; he is locked in a cycle of abuse, unable to react with care and kindness, and unfi t, he fears, to be a father. In prison he participates in a program in which the boys raise baby chicks. The hope and the promise of the fi lm is that by caring for these animals, he will learn to care for his child and for himself.

Animal-care programs in prison are extremely worthwhile and valuable, not least because they recognize the humanity of those behind bars. But any discussion of prison needs to acknowledge that prison itself is part of a cycle of violence, not a solution to it. A scene in which a counselor (Opal Besson) tells the boy that he is “not trapped” seems especially tin-eared. She means that he isn’t doomed to hurt others, but she tells him so while he is literally in handcuff s. Physically, materially, he absolutely is trapped, and jailers are not in a position to off er bland promises of freedom.

I’m certain Leong means well, and the chick-raising program is a worthy cause. But prison is a massive, racist source of violence and harm. A fi lm about incarcerated people, especially one purporting to advocate for them, needs to engage with that fact. —NOAH BERLATSKY 13 min. Screening at Tribeca Film Festival

Hit the Road KINO LORBER

RHit the Road Being the son of the great Iranian dissident fi lmmaker Jafar Panahi and the protege of the late master director Abbas Kiarostami can’t help but cast a shadow, but if this digressive and slyly weighty debut is any indication, Panah Panahi will have no trouble making his own voice heard.

A family of four drives through a forlorn countryside en route to connect with smugglers who will ferry their eldest son—in trouble for nameless reasons—out of the country. The traditional familial hierarchy is upended by the father’s immobility due to a full-leg cast. A philosophical bearded type, he spends much of the trip entertaining his younger son, when not staring aimlessly off into the distance. The desperately raging heart of the movie, the little boy, curious about everyone and everything, drives his family crazy while also distracting them from the heavy journey they’re on. The pain of the imminent separation is communicated wordlessly on the mother’s face.

I don’t know how Panahi manages to make this road trip neither heavy-handed nor derivative, but he’s found a new wrinkle to add to perhaps the oldest trope in fi lm (and literature). By focusing on the mundane task of managing a little boy’s time and following the instructions of the smugglers hired to get their other son to safety, Panahi manages to keep the action moving without sliding into existential hand-wringing. Despite the very real darkness threatening to engulf this family, they know to keep moving ahead, no matter how unsettled the future looks through the windshield of their little car. I don’t know if they’ll be OK, but I’m glad to’ve been along for the ride. —DMITRY SAMAROV 93 min. Music Box Theatre v

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