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While New Year’s is just the first day of January for most people, others consider it to be something more momentous. It represents a fresh start, especially for those who desperately need a change in their lives. The three core characters in Nattawut Poonpiriya’s 2012 movie Countdown don’t know it yet, but their New Year’s Eve is going to be a time of reflection and, most importantly, survival.

The college-age characters in Countdown have a problem that only people their age would consider a real crisis; their weed dealer has retired as part of his own clean slate. But if they want to have a fun New Year’s Eve, then roommates Bee, Jack and Pam need to find another source, stat. This brings them to calling Jesús (David Asavanond) from the torn-up business card that Jack found in his ex-dealer’s place. They have to guess...

Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya’s debut feature “Countdown” is three-way fun. It can be enjoyed as a juicy one-off; it can be a good starting point for a binge on the director’s oeuvre; finally, it’s a fun watch if you have already seen his more popular following movies “Bad Genius” and “One for The Road”, as you will be able to spot the seeds of his creative process and have fun joining the dots.

Jack (Pachara Chirathivat), Bee (Jariporn Junkiet), and Pam (Peak Patarasaya) are three Thai friends sharing a flat in NYC, where they are supposed to study but instead spend all their parents’ money in anything recreational. For 2012 New Year’s Eve their plan is to score some drugs and just get high at home watching the countdown on the telly; punctual as an angel of death, a new dealer called Jesus (a terrific David Asavanond) is...

Other winners at Japanese festival were Filament, Nana-chan and Trash.

How To Bring Women Back Into A Good Humor, a Japanese comedy about a couple who can’t stop arguing over their wedding plans, won the audience award at the 11th Okinawa International Movie Festival (Oimf), which wrapped on Sunday night (April 21).

Veteran actor Eiji Okuda presented the award to director Shusuke Arita, who said when accepting the prize: “If there’re men who aren’t getting along with their wives and are thinking about getting a divorce, seeing this movie can make them change their minds”.

Films which received...