The Short History of the Long Road

"A story about survival."

2019 1h 30m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🍅

88%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 62🍅88%Rotten Tomatoes●60Metacritic★6.5IMDB · 1,783

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.

“A story about survival.”

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Cast

Sabrina Carpenter
Nola
Steven Ogg
Clint
Jashaun St. John
Blue
Maggie Siff
Cheryl
Danny Trejo
Miguel
Rusty Schwimmer
Marcie
Renton Pexa
Camper #2
James Cady
Carl

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ani Simon-Kennedy
Writers: Ani Simon-Kennedy
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 7 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy, shot by Cailin Yatsko. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Morgan Kibby. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ron Dulin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sabrina Carpenter and Steven Ogg and Jashaun St. John carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A story about survival.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt8184766 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ani Simon-Kennedy directs. Cailin Yatsko behind the camera. Morgan Kibby scores. Ron Dulin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 7 years ago.
3Directed by Ani Simon-Kennedy, shot by Cailin Yatsko. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Morgan Kibby. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Ron Dulin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Sabrina Carpenter and Steven Ogg and Jashaun St. John carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "A story about survival.".
8IMDB entry: tt8184766 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Cailin Yatsko
Original score: Morgan Kibby
Editing: Ron Dulin
Production design: Scott Christopher Clark
Costume design: Maria Bentfield
Makeup / hair: Laramie Cooley
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Rotten Tomatoes: 88% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 60/100
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 1,783 votes
MPAA: M/PG

Awards

3 wins & 3 nominations total

Also by

Ani Simon-Kennedy

Days of Gray
2013 · ★ 5.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots2020-08-31
★ 8/10
“The Short History of the Long Road” is a socially-conscious, intimate story about a daughter and her father, two nomads who live in their vintage camper van. Calling the open road home, it’s the only life teenager Nola (Sabrina Carpenter) has ever known. Her dad (Steven Ogg) is fully committed to the van-dwelling lifestyle, but Nola is beginning to feel even more like an outsider every day. The self-reliant duo drive around the American Southwest taking odd jobs for money and squatting in the occasional foreclosed house, making their lives off the grid work. But when a shocking turn of events leaves Nola on her own, she must rely on her street smarts and wits to survive. Writer / director Ani Simon-Kennedy has made a timely film that’s both sad and empowering. It’s a perfect companion piece to other stories about Americans living on the outskirts of a society that has either abandoned them (“Leave No Trace“) or one in which they find it too constraining to survive (“Captain Fantastic”). But “The Short History of the Long Road” isn’t an ordinary coming-of-age road trip movie. There’s a poignant authenticity to Simon-Kennedy’s story, and it’s one with a strong understanding of the human emotion of grief, loneliness, and the desperation for a sense of belonging. Nola is a nuanced, layered character with an inner strength that’s beautifully expressed by Carpenter. She plays her character with a quiet vulnerability that feels like an authentic old soul. Nola loses all the safety nets she’s ever known, but embraces her independence with an empowering resilience an arsenal of street smarts. As a menagerie of interesting strangers enter and exit her life along her journey to track down the mother she never knew (Maggie Siff), Nola never loses sight of her reality and becomes the anchor that she needs to survive. Films like this are so important because they illuminate the stories of those living in the shadows so that we can all gain a better understanding of the world we share. There’s no better way to convey this idea than with a universal message, and “The Short History of the Long Road” has so much empathy, truth, and realism, especially when it comes to its portrayal of sudden loss and grief, that it’s one of the most authentic and essential films of the year.

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