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One for the Road

Submissions for Best International Feature (Academy Awards 2023)

2021

Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, Thanapob Leeratanakajorn, Ice Natara, Violette Wautier ...

Drama Boss lives a seemingly charmed life as a popular bartender in New York City, with an endless line of female customers after hours. One night, his estranged friend Aood calls from Bangkok with the news that he’s dying and asks Boss to come home. As the two travel down memory lane throughout Thailand, returning items to Aood’s exes, their pasts and reasons for their broken brotherhood are exposed. But Boss doesn’t know the whole story, ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Lee Marshall Screendaily	"A deeply personal film (...) A tactile, colour-saturated film that is in love with cocktail culture"
		Arpiwach Supateerawanitt Time Out	"The cinematography is undoubtedly beautiful, but even that can detract from the film's favor, unfortunately rendering [it] as a cinematic journey that prioritizes style over substance (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"A syrupy glob of romantic melodrama that has as much in common with the likes of 'The Bucket List' and 'Elizabethtown' as it does with the lovelorn poetry of '2046' or 'Chungking Express'"
		Peter Debruge Variety	"It’s the introduction of a character named Prim, played by Violette Wautier, that transforms 'One for the Road' from being a second-rate '50/50' (...) into something entirely its own."
		Hoai-Tran Bui SlashFilm	"Poonpiriya's third feature undoubtedly feels like a filmmaker at a crossroads: a formerly hip, young thing who is trying to prove himself a serious director, but coming up short"
		Matt Cipolla The Film Stage	"Its characters manage to come off as annoying and its identity hinges on well-worn tropes and needle drops"
		Todd McCarthy Deadline	"'One for the Road' remains vitally alive at every moment, alert to every emotion, desire, opportunity and vicissitude churned up by the characters' journeys. It's kind of a knock-out"
		Carlos Aguilar rogerebert.com	"Poonpiriya makes films that flaunt great production value and this one is no exception (...) For a plot about men deepening their friendship in the face of hardship, it's harmless but uninterestingly artificial"
		A.A. Dowd AV Club	"Drags out the conflict between two generally unlikable, thinly sketched bar bros to an unconscionable 136 minutes"

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