142. One Of These Days; movie review

 

ONE OF THESE DAYS

Cert 15

121 mins

BBFC advice: Contains Suicide, strong languages, bloody images, sex nudity

From the lottery, to X Factor or simply gambling on the horses, the public cannot resist the slim opportunity to try to change their lives instantly for the better.

Indeed, getting rich quick appears to have become an obsession.

However, such endeavours always bring out the worst in people as Bastian Günther's analogy, One Of These Days, demonstrates.

It surrounds what initially seems to be a very straightforward concept - 20 people in competition to win a brand new truck by attempting to keep a hand on the vehicle for the longest.

Joe Cole plays one of the contestants - a man with a wife and young baby who is stuck in a humdrum job and is determined to win.

He isn't alone - and his fellow competitors get up to all sorts of mental tricks to try to give themselves the advantage.

Meanwhile, they are becoming more and more tired and tempers become more and more frayed.

I was actually more attracted by story of the contest's organiser - Joan Dempsey - played by Carrie Preston.

Outwardly, she is the irrepressible light which shines upon a small Texan town where nothing much goes on.

She is the voice of optimism who even believes in the success of an outdoor party when rain is falling at full pelt.

However, it becomes clear that she is beset by a terrible loneliness and her pre-occupation with trying to fill a personal void means she has taken her eye off the ball when it comes to her day job.

Thus, the hands-on competition inches ever closer towards disaster.

I found One Of These Days surprisingly enthralling, willing my favourites to success and hoping that Joan would find her elusive romance.

And then came one of the most shocking moments in any movie this year so far.

I shall add no more other than is certainly worth a watch.

Reasons to watch: Devastating true story

Reasons to avoid: Half an hour too long

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? Touch the Truck was a British Channel 5 endurance gameshow which aired in March 2001. Jerry Middleton, 39, from Winchester, Hampshire, was the winner who managed to stay awake touching the vehicle for 81 hours 43 minutes and 31 seconds. He stated that he was going to sell the vehicle to fund a political party. Middleton stood at the 2001 General Election in the Kingston and Surbiton constituency, but gained only 54 votes of a turnout of 49,093.

The final word. Carrie Preston: "Bastian had done several interviews with a woman that he loosely based my character on, and he had videos of her so I watched them, just to kind of get a little inspiration from her. I wasn’t imitating her, but I got some of the cadences of her like some of her mannerisms and used that to inspire my character, the way I wanted to play her and honour her and find this balance between her desperation and her joy." Loud and Clear reviews

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