‘One Of These Days’ review: Dir. Bastian Günther (2022)

Following a debut at the Berlin Film Festival a couple of years ago, Bastian Günther’s mesmerising One Of These Days revolves around a ‘Hand’s On’ automobile contest in small town Texas and features a stand-out performance by its leading man, Joe Cole.

Cole plays Kyle, married father of a baby daughter who is struggling for money who, along with 20-odd other people, enter a local contest to win a prize Nissan Hardbody, a nifty – and expensive – pick-up truck. The rules of the competition are simple; participants must place their hands onto a section of the car and leave at least one of them in contact. The last remaining person stood against the car with their hand(s) in place win the vehicle. Of course, there are mandatory breaks; a five minute break every hour – presumable to take eat, drink and relieve themselves, and also a fifteen minute break every six hours. During the time in which they are stood at the vehicle, they cannot lean, sit or sleep.

There’s also Joan Dempsey (Carrie Preston), a divorced, and indeed lonely local woman who is acting as PR for the car dealership. A cross-section of society line-up among the competitors after winning an initial raffle, all with their eyes on the prize in a seemingly simple contest to just simply stand and leave their hands in place for as long as it takes.

Intense rivalry and endurance, as well as massive sleep deprivation are all at the forefront of the contest of which makes up the core of the movie – essentially twenty people stood around a pick-up barracking one another in an attempt to win the motor. Of course, there’s more at play here as the minutes, hours, and ultimately days pass, the competitors dwindling as time goes on until Günther eventually delivers a shocking twist that you won’t see coming.

A meandering final 20 minute epilogue, which does go on a little too long, firms up Kyle’s backstory and told through flashback, but it is strangely placed at the end of the film. However, Cole’s performance and Günther’s expert direction and sometimes offbeat screenplay make the film an involving watch throughout. This is up there with Cole’s best stuff, on a par with the brilliant Thai prison drama A Prayer Before Dawn, showing that the actor is truly at his best when he’s playing these darker screen roles.

A very accessible piece which, even though it is a little overlong, clocking in at just under two hours, just about doesn’t outstay its welcome. Those expecting a social study of a cross-section of contemporary rural southern Texas may be let down, but like hand prints on a shining new showroom pick-up, it’ll definitely leave a mark.

One Of These Days is released in cinemas from April 1^st.