The first screening of On the Road has aired, the film has opened in France and the first reactions and reviews are popping up online. Within the next few months, the film will come out in a number of other countries, including Brazil (June), Sweden (July), Denmark (August), the UK (September), Australia (October), and Argentina (November). IFC Films / Sundance Selects will distribute On the Road in North America, though a specific release date hasn’t been announced yet. Reviews are generally positive, and you can read a few of them below:

“Salles gets excellent performances from his cast, which includes Viggo Mortensen as the William Burroughs figure and Kirsten Dunst as the girl Cassady married after finally breaking up with Marylou. However, he struggles to give his story the strong dramatic line it requires and concentrates instead on sequences which illustrate the book best. What we do get, thanks to Riley’s perceptive performance, is the sense that he is watching Cassady tasting life before he gingerly partakes.” — Derek Malcolm, London Evening Standard

“Buoyed by the energy and youthful grace of his actors (with special mention going to Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart, stunning), On the Road nicely retraces this in-between period when everything is possible, just before the arrival of the time for regrets …” Christophe Narbonne, Premiere.

“On the Road does not feel like a dry history lesson, nor is it overly reverent toward its subjects. Instead, Salles, working with screenwriter Jose Rivera, managed to make something that has a pulse of its own, and that’s due in no small part to the casting of Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley as Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise. They have a strong, easy chemistry that pays off over the course of the film, and it provides a solid base upon which the rest of the film is built.” Drew McWeeny, HitFix.