The heart of any story in the road trip genre is the journey, not necessarily the arrival, or sometimes not even arriving at all. Open Roads is a driving adventure that, although reached its intended destination, never felt like it fully arrived. It has an intriguing set-up: a mother and daughter hitting the road to discover long-buried family secrets told through considered conversations and snooping through dust-coated mementos. But just as you think the story is settling into a familiar rhythm, it hits the brakes, halting all momentum for the mystery it so carefully mapped out. What at first feels like a build-up to a tyre and tarmac travelog adventure, instead feels like a quick nip to the corner shop.
Open Roads follows teenager Tess and single mum Opal on a spur-of-the-moment road trip prompted by the discovery of a hidden trove of diary entries and letters stashed away by their recently deceased grandmother/mother. Wanting to know more about these long-lost secrets, the two set off on a road trip, the two treading the same paths, buildings, and highways that their family traversed decades before.
