Top 10 Road Trip Movies to Watch Before Your Next Adventure Begins
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Here’s one of my favorite images in film: a character blankly staring out a car window, head tilted sideways against the glass pane, bright yellow orbs of streetlight reflections quickly passing the camera, and a melancholic musical score wrapping the entire mise-en-scène together. It’s the suspension of time between spaces, as the mind hitchhikes from one thought to another — that’s the quintessential portrait of a road trip movie.
As a cinephile and (frustrated) wanderluster, watching a bunch of road trip films is my go-to activity whenever I need a quick escape. It’s not just about the places these films take you, but the mental and emotional catharsis they bring.
Here are my 10 picks for the best road trip movies you need to watch before your next escapade begins.
10. Nomadland (2020)
Country: USA
Nomadland is a blissful piece of cinema that details the aftermath of 2008’s Great Recession in a quiet and intimate character study. Gorgeously shot and sublimely scored, the film is a poetic portrayal of moving forward and letting go with intense sensitivity. Watching this is a transcendental experience — almost like a prayer where every whisper is food for the soul.
9. Drive My Car (2021)
Country: Japan
It took a while for me to warm up with Ryusuke’s Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. For one, its verbose writing can be a tad overwhelming. But once I’ve gotten over that hurdle, what was unveiled is poetry on film with strikingly profound moments of heartbreak and grief. While it won’t be for everyone, this Oscar winning film is an absorbing meditation of life and death.
8. End of the Century (2019)
Country: Argentina
I can’t tell you enough how much I love Lucio Castro’s End of the Century — the quintessential Latin American queer cinema, in my opinion. I’ve endlessly talked about it, written many articles and reviews, and even shot a short film loosely based on it. The director built a fantasyland within a man’s wandering mind where he falls in love with a stranger on a trip to Barcelona. It’s serendipitous, enigmatic, and quite simply romantic.
7. Patay na si Hesus (2017)
Country: Philippines
Predominantly spoken in the Visayan language (which made me incredibly proud as a Bisaya), watching Victor Villanueva’s Patay na si Hesus felt like an ode to uncomfortable homecomings. While it may seem lightweight at first glance, its complex layers of sociopolitical and religious satire, combined with Foucault’s theory of geocriticism, make this film — without a doubt — one of the best Filipino comedies of the 21st century.
6. A Real Pain (2024)
Country: USA
A road trip movie featuring a dysfunctional family in alienating and triggering spaces? A Real Pain nails just that. This is the kind of movie that made me fall in love with character-centric narratives — no messing about, just nuanced human stories on the road, finding their truth and authenticity. The simplicity of Eisenberg’s filmmaking allows the film’s porous texture to convey the rawest and most contemplative human emotions, drawing from existential crises, privileges, familiar traumas, and ancestral histories.
5. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Country: Australia
A road trip movie list wouldn’t be complete without George Miller’s extremist rampage, Mad Max: Fury Road — a roaring joyride that bombards you with deliciously violent thrills and a lineup of gleefully eccentric characters. The film is a non-stop hurricane, luring you in with its immaculate landscapes and fiery action, then immersing you in its offbeat and orgasmic world. Easily one of the best adventure films ever made.
4. The Man with the Answers (2021)
Country: Greece
I bumped into this film during my hunt for some of the best European movies by independent filmmakers — and I’m so glad I did. Just like End of the Century, The Man with the Answers follows two strangers who embark on a road trip under the most spontaneous circumstances. What makes it stand out is its minimalist (and realist) approach paired with a dialogue-driven narrative — think Before Sunrise meets Call Me By Your Name.
3. Into the Wild (2007)
Country: USA
I still remember the gut punch I felt after watching Sean Penn’s Into the Wild back in college — it was so visceral, it made me nauseous. Based on the true story of Chris McCandless, an American nomadic adventurer, the film masterfully explores a world free of societal norms and cultural impositions — a pure quest for freedom without rules or structure, where self-fulfillment and self-destruction tread a fine line. It’s poetic and luminous, like a reflective odyssey of self-actualization through nature and into the wild.
2. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Country: USA
If you’re looking for the perfect road trip comedy featuring a bunch of messy, unapologetic characters with unexpected layers of dark quirkiness, Little Miss Sunshine is the film for you. Nothing’s more satisfying than witnessing a 900-mile journey of a dysfunctional family on the verge of a nervous breakdown — all while chasing a children’s beauty pageant in sunny California. But beneath its hysterical premise is a heartfelt story of resilience and hope, where families stick together through wins and losses.
1. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
Country: Mexico
Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También epitomizes the road trip genre to a tee — it’s curious and reckless, exploring the relentless impulse of human nature in the quest for self-discovery. Boasting an equally raw and stylized direction, the film delicately balances its lush visuals with a gritty texture, all while diving deep into the undertones of homoeroticism, women’s agency, toxic masculinity, and sexual liberation. ❜
Written by
Dennis Buckly
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