Happy Old Year (2019)

Directed by: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit | 113 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, Sunny Suwanmethanont, Sarika Sartsilpsupa, Thirawat Ngosawang, Apasiri Chantrasmi, Patcha Kitchaicharoen, Wasu Pluemsakulthai, Bhumibhat Thavornsiri, Neennara Boonnithipaisit, Phachaya Ngamboonsin

Minimalism is what it is all about. At least for Jean, a beautiful twenty-something who returns to her mother and brother in the parental home in Bangkok after a stay in Sweden. Jean has to convert that large house into a workspace, not only because she wants to but also because it is a requirement of her new employer. And so Jean gets a few hundred garbage bags, rolls up her sleeves and gets to work. And then she notices that it is not easy to throw away all kinds of things that have memories attached to them, good, bad and those in between.

In the sweet Thai drama ‘Happy Old Year’ we follow Jean during her big cleaning action. The film is divided into chapters with titles from Marie Kondo’s self-help cleanup corner. But with Jean it’s not really about stuff. We soon discover that all that leftover clutter represents all the unprocessed emotional baggage she carries with her. The photos and the camera of the ex-boyfriend she suddenly broke up with. The piano of the father who abandoned the family. And so Jean sets out to come to terms with all those unfinished stories or to let them go for good.

The power of ‘Happy Old Year’ lies in the first place in the endearing character of our heroine. Jean is an introverted girl who considers herself quite brave but inside is as vulnerable as can be. At the start of the clean-up campaign, she boldly shouts that it’s all a piece of cake, but when the first garbage bags are removed, she doesn’t know how quickly she has to catch up with the collectors. This beautiful person is also wonderfully played by Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, very natural, small and believable.

The other actors are equally natural, so that at first you almost think you are watching a documentary. The tempo is slow (but not too much), the visuals and editing are nice and tight and emotional scenes are interspersed with bone-dry funny scenes. Whereby the most important message is never forgotten: that you can only grow as a person if you have inventoried your personal baggage and freed yourself from everything superfluous. That such a thing hurts, we see in this moving, smart and funny film.