10/10
Nostalgic Buddy Film ONE FOR THE ROAD Nails It
15 February 2021
One for the Road is full of nostalgia as multiple genres come together including romance, buddy film, as well as sex-positive melodrama. The film had a wonderful soundtrack with some Cat Stevens music along with several mainstream hits, a strong production design, and a lovely mise-en-scene with exquisite cinematography and a touch of colorization. One For the Road follows a young Thai man, who is dying from cancer and has decided to make his final amends by delivering a parting gift to those closest to him on the earthly plane.

One For The Road is very visual, very visceral, and one I was sad to see it end after 136 minutes. But end it did and as the credits began to roll, there it was - a title revealing "Produced by Wong Kar Wai" - "... a filmmaker who specializes in making the evanescent tangible, in capturing fleeting emotions in a style that is always poetic, often ravishing and, despite his films' surface-level dreaminess, unerringly precise." I'm a huge fan of Mr. Wong's work so all I could do in that moment was sit and smile. What a wonderful gift. (Wong and Director Baz Poonpiriya worked together on One For The Road for three years.)

Director Baz Poonpiriya, a strong storyteller who has come into his own, had previously helmed Bad Genius the 2017 Thai box-office smashing and the record-breaking winner of twelve categories at the 27th Suphannahong National Film Awards (the Thai Oscars), before embarking on One For The Road with Wong. If you're a fan of Wong, this is a film you don't want to miss. And, if you're a fan of Thai film (Apichatpong Weerasethakul's 2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives turned me on to Thai film), it's a must-see! Lastly, if you simply enjoy exquisitely told films, I highly recommend you see Baz Poonpiriya's One For The Road!
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