Happy Old Year

In Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's film, Jean, played by Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, comes back to Thailand after three years in Sweden and wants to convert her family's cluttered house into a minimalist workspace. The rule is simple: anything unused goes. The trouble is not what the objects do but what they carry. Jean finds things belonging to her former boyfriend Aim, and each one brings back an unclosed story. From there the film stops being about tidying and becomes a reckoning; Jean decides to return the objects to their owners, which turns out to be far harder than throwing them away. Nawapol does not offer minimalism as a solution. The film's question is whether removing something from your life amounts to deciding you never lived it. Jean herself grows colder and more ruthless as it goes, and the film does not vindicate her. Who it is for: viewers interested in quiet, observational Thai cinema and in the relationship between objects and memory. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a likeable protagonist, since Jean is deliberately unpleasant.