Wonderful Town

2007

Wonderful Town

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

Wonderful Town Photos

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Movie Info

"Wonderful Town" is a fictional story set against a real-life background. Aditya Assarat's feature debut takes place in Takua Pa, a coastal area in southern Thailand that lost more than 8,000 habitants when the Asian Tsunami struck in late 2004. Caused by a 9.3 magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake on Dec. 26, this natural disaster affected 15 countries across the globe and was responsible for the death of over 225,000 people. Three years later, Takua Pa, once the site of a thriving community, still struggles with this collective trauma. And, amidst the city's reconstruction, an architect mysteriously arrives from the cosmopolitan Bangkok. Ton, the only person from his firm willing to re-locate to this desolate place, comes to supervise one of the city's many construction sites. As he looks for a place to live, he meets Na. As such, to view "Wonderful Town" as a reaction to the Tsunami is perhaps to miss the film's larger point. Here, this traumatic natural disaster also functions as a point of departure for the film's assertions about the relationship--and many parallels--between humans and the so-called natural world.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Art House & International, Drama
Directed By:

Aditya Assarat
Written By:

Aditya Assarat
In Theaters:

Oct 8, 2007 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Mar 3, 2009
Runtime:

92 minutes
Studio:

Kino International Corp.

Watch it now

iTunes

Cast

Anchalee Saisoontorn
as Na

Eric D'Agostino
as Ton

Supphasit Kansen
as Na

Dul Yaambunying
as Wit

Grégory Willocq

Critic Reviews for Wonderful Town

All Critics (24) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (3)

A purposeful, almost meditative exploration of the scars left on a people's psyche after tragedy.

Mar 13, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Wendy Ide
Times (UK)
Top Critic
There's a folksy majesty to Wonderful Town, born of its leisurely pace, pastoral views of idyllic scenery and a storytelling drive set only slightly faster than slow motion. It recalls a lot of rustic, independent English-language films of the '90s

Aug 15, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Sid Smith
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic
A sensitive love story from Thailand set against the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

Jul 25, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic
It's no small feat to pull off as sweet and sensitive a romance as that between Na and Ton, and something rarer yet to suffuse such affections into a poem of wounded landscape.

Jul 18, 2008 | Rating: 4.5/5

Nathan Lee
New York Times
Top Critic
This delicate, delightful and nearly note-perfect debut feature from young Thai director Aditya Assarad offers more evidence of the tremendous film renaissance underway in East Asia.

Jul 18, 2008

Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic
Occasionally, Assarat -- who studied in the US -- drops a hint about sinister times to come, but nothing prepares the audience for what does happen.

Jul 18, 2008 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic
Demonstrates that it's still entirely possible to make a movie outside the framework of pop genre cinema that is engrossing, moving and, in its unassertive way, quietly entertaining.

Jul 6, 2018 | Full Review…

Tony Rayns
Sight and Sound
"Wonderful Town", the promising first film by Aditya Assarat, has a great amount of outer spirit, though what it truly lacks is an expressive inner life.

Nov 17, 2017 | Full Review…

Daniel Kasman
MUBI
Delicately observed and engrossing.

Aug 17, 2009 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Anne Wollenberg
Filmstar Magazine
Seductive yet unilluminating

Mar 13, 2009 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Jon Fortgang
Film4
Laundry drying in a breeze has never looked so threatening.

Mar 9, 2009 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com
It's a film that seduces rather than grabs.

Mar 6, 2009 | Full Review…

Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

View All Critic Reviews (24)

Audience Reviews for Wonderful Town

May 19, 2009

Wonderful Town is set in a Thai village that was devastated by the 2004 Tsunami. A young architect is sent to oversee the rebuilding effort that has started in the village. He soon falls in love with a local girl. The film is slow and thoughtful. It builds upon the romance whilst looking at it from a distance. Both parties are very cautious about getting close to each other. The locals soon disapprove of the relationship, it upsets the balance and releases pent up anger from the community that perhaps feels abandoned. The ending is shocking and even sickening. It comes suddenly, as such an act would. Wonderful Town is a bit to thoughtful for it's own good. There's a great story and some fascinating themes here, but first it makes us sit through a generic love story, one that takes up too much screen time.

Luke B Super Reviewer