‘One For The Road’ Ending, Explained: What Happens To Aood?

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Directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya, “One For The Road” is a heartfelt emotional film where two friends come together after one discovers that his friend has terminal cancer and has a limited time to live. He helps his friend atone for his wrongdoings before finally giving in. “One For The Road” refers literally to one last drink before heading home. A beautiful concept where Aood tries to offer one last apology and goodbye before he embraces the grim reaper. Running for about 2 hours and 16 minutes, this movie is available on Netflix and worth watching.


‘One For The Road’ Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?

Aood, who has taken over his father’s business of managing old records and cassettes, finds himself sitting in his father’s car and pondering over the numerous contacts saved on his phone. He deleted most contacts but hesitated over a few. He proceeds to call a number with the name Boss on it. Boss, meanwhile, was living his life and running a bar in New York. During a personal altercation with a female customer of his, he receives a call from his long-time friend Aood. He learns that his friend has leukemia, a type of blood cancer. Apparently, his father had passed away due to cancer as well. Aood inherited the disease from his father.

Aood asks Boss to fly back to Thailand and meet him as a last favor. Boss, devastated, leaves immediately for Thailand to see his friend. They embark on a journey where Aood confronts his ex-girlfriends to apologize for the way he treated them and to say goodbye one last time. The confrontations didn’t really go as planned, and he dredged up some of the painful memories that they wanted to forget. He still proceeds with his plan, and after their conversations, he deletes their numbers as a final goodbye. He visits his father’s grave and collects his ashes to atone for the days he did not visit and the funeral he missed. He gave his father the goodbye he deserved and saved the last farewell for his best friend, Boss, who had stayed by his side when everyone left. He discloses all of the secrets he hid from Boss at the hotel where Boss had met the love of his life, Prim. He comes clean about how he had deceived Boss and how Prim is waiting for him. Boss, clouded with disgust and betrayal, leaves his friend but still fulfills his wish to live his life like Boss. Boss belonged to a very wealthy family that had their broken aspects; Aood wished to live wealthily like Boss for a few days before he died. Aood made one last attempt to fix things and make Boss happy and led him back to Prim, who was waiting for Boss’s arrival. He patched their relationship before succumbing to a lonely death and leaving a message to guide Boss back to Prim. “One For The Road” ends with Aood driving off into the horizon after finally seeing his friend happy.


Aood’s Betrayal

Aood had behaved badly with some of his ex-girlfriends. Alice, the first ex he went to visit, reconciled with him and forgave him. They shared a dance and a chat to set their differences aside before Aood and Boss drove to meet their next ex. Boss never liked Alice, but she forgave Aood and went to meet him before he left. They met Noona, who was now a superstar, next. It’s safe to say that the confrontation didn’t go well. Noona, upset and hurt over how Aood had treated her while they were in a relationship, refused to accept his apology and sent him packing with emotions on his way out. They scheduled a visit to Roong’s place after that, but Aood feels sick along the way after a night out with Boss. He had to be hospitalized, but soon recovered and set off to meet Roong. This confrontation didn’t go well either; Roong refused to even meet him or talk to him. He had to go back without a single conversation. On his way to meet Roong, he dreamt of a perfect conversation, where she had forgiven him, but that dream was shattered after she refused to even see his face. He continued with his journey and visited his father’s grave to collect the urn that had his ashes. He paid his homage to his father by letting the ash fall and mixing with the wind over the river. He could see his father driving off into the horizon. After bidding his father the last goodbye, Boss and Aood went to meet Boss’ family. They arrived at the hotel owned by his family, and Aood waited till Boss finished his conversation with his brother. Aood met Boss at the bar of the hotel, and Boss agreed to make a drink for him. Aood eventually confessed to how and why he became a friend of Boss. He told Boss that he had, in fact, lied to him when they first met. Boss had come to inquire about Prim after they had had a fight, and she left his home. Prim stayed at Aood’s place after leaving Boss because she had nowhere to go. But, Aood wanted a relationship with her, so she left him to focus on her bartending competition that was to be held in Vegas. Aood then visited Boss, who was depressed, and told him that Prim had a boyfriend now. Boss was depressed and tried to get over her by having one-night stands and drinking his pain away.

Aood then, at the bar, confessed to Boss that Prim never had a boyfriend and it was all a misunderstanding. Boss, after getting to know the entire truth, was disgusted, and he asked why Aood did that. To which Aood replied with a simple: he was jealous, and he wanted to know what good did Boss have in him. He apologized profusely for this and handed him a tea coaster that Prim had made for Boss when they were still together. It had the quote “One for the Road” inscribed on it. Boss left Aood but still made him enjoy his life as a wealthy man in his last few days, before Aood got it together and actively tried to help Boss get back together with Prim.


The Quote, The Cassettes, And The Memories

Every time Aood went on to meet one of his exes, he had a cassette playing in the background, and he showed up to return a small trinket that they had intentionally or unintentionally left. The cassettes were a recording of his father’s radio show, “Midnight Riders.” He played the songs as DJ Charnwut Chantarachoke. Aood took care of his dad’s shop, “Chantarachoke Records,” and had gotten all of the cassettes that had recorded his father’s shows from the radio station. He listened to them while he took his father’s classic BMW out for a ride. When Boss drove him to meet his exes, he had a cassette dedicated to each one of them that stopped playing only after their meeting was over. The songs on the cassette indicated their personalities, their emotions, and the memories they had together. The trinkets Aood went to return were treated as a gesture to remember him by. After he met every important person, he deleted their numbers as a final goodbye. The weather changed, demonstrating how a meeting would take place. When he went to meet Roong, the weather gave way to thunderstorms. Roong refused to meet him even after scheduling the day of his visit. This signified that there were some wounds nobody could heal.

When they met Noona, she was in the middle of acting out a scene from her new movie. After Aood met her and spoke to her to apologize for the way he treated her, Noona reminded her of her turbulent relationship and how Aood never supported her to achieve her dreams, refused his trinket, and used the scene as an emotional tool to fuel her acting and served a remarkably emotional scene that was indirectly dedicated to Aood. She had to act out a script where while professing her emotions to her partner, she had to shoot him to break free of the emotional cage she was trapped in. So while shooting, the bullet wounds seem to appear on Aood’s chest, signifying the emotions she wanted to hurl at Aood for continuously hurting her and insulting her while they were together.

After they left each ex, the cassette was replaced with the other cassette dedicated to all the important people in his life whom he had left to say goodbye. For Boss, he saved the best cassette, which had songs that dedicated their emotions towards his dear friend. His guilt was apparent, and he dedicated a song to “Nobody Knows” by Stamp and Christopher Chu to bid his friend a final adieu and thank him for everything he had done for him.

The soundtrack of “One For The Road” boasts a lot of emotions. They signify melancholy, momentary happiness, anger, numbness, and annoyance, which fit perfectly with every shot. The continuity of the shots was brilliantly shot, and the mood color palette for the different shots was tastefully chosen and blended together. The story was well put together and realistically depicted the human emotions felt by the characters. “One For The Road” is worth a watch, and it has authentically portrayed different sides of a human that they display to different people.


‘One For The Road’ Ending Explained: Is Aood Dead?

Aood does strive for forgiveness, but some of his actions have caused grief beyond repair. But here lies his strength of calmly accepting his wrongdoings and that he won’t be forgiven. He can, however, have a certain peace of mind where he wants to put it out there, that he may not be forgiven for his actions, but he tried to earn that forgiveness in his limited time. This sets him apart significantly because he owns up to his actions and does not shift the blame on anyone or paint himself as the victim. Though he did betray his friend in the worst way possible, he also helped him mature to win his love back and attain the happiness he longed for. Aood died a lonely death, but he gave his all in the last attempt at atoning for the wrong he committed against his dear friend Boss.


“One For The Road” is a 2022 Drama film Directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya.

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Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen
Alokananda Sen holds a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She has a keen interest in graphic designing, reading, and photography. Her insatiable appetite for cinema and pop culture enticed her to work as a content writer. She is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma focused in Animation & VFX to explore a new dimension in her career.

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