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Countdown (original title: Visszaszamalas) is a relentlessly pessimistic look at the limited opportunities for individual advancement in modern Hungary. Co-op bus driver Karoly Eperjes invests his life savings in a truck so that he can open his own business. At first, all goes well, but Eperjes is brought down by a brutal winter and the jealousy of his neighbors. His profits depleted, the would-be entrepreneur goes to work for a trucking "shark" who sends him on penny-ante assignments in exchange for a thick slice of the fee; soon Eperjes is putting in 18- to 20- hour days, with little to show for it. Eperjes' wife Erika Oszda, who makes ends meet by running a sewing business from her home, secretly rents out her husband's truck in order to pick up extra money. This deception leads to her having an affair with a rival trucker. Countdown ends with the now-loveless Eperjes and Oszda disconsolately sitting side by side at their sewing machines.