Wondrous Oblivion

Critics Consensus

This coming-of-age/cricket tale wants to be touching, but is too often sappy.

66%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 41

69%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 1,483

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Movie Info

White residents react with horror when a Jamaican family moves into their working-class neighborhood in 1960 London. However, 11-year-old David Wiseman (Sam Smith) discovers that he and his new neighbor, Dennis (Delroy Lindo), share a passion for cricket. Later, David's mother (Emily Woof) discovers that she has a passion for Dennis.
  • Rating:
    PG (Thematic Material|Racial Remarks|Language|Brief Smoking by Minors|Sensuality|Some Violence)
  • Genre:
    comedy, drama
  • Original Language:
    English (United Kingdom)
  • Director:
    Paul Morrison
  • Producer:
    Jonny Persey
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Box Office (Gross USA):
    $88.6K
  • Runtime:
  • Production Co:
    APT Productions
  • Sound Mix:
    Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Sam Smith
David Wiseman
Delroy Lindo
Dennis Samuels
Emily Woof
Ruth Wiseman
Stanley Townsend
Victor Wiseman
Angela Wynter
Grace Samuels
Leonie Elliott
Judy Samuels
Naomi Simpson
Dorothy Samuels
Jo Stone-Fewings
Mr. Pugh
Gary McDonald
Garry Sobers
Paul Morrison
Director
Paul Morrison
Writer
Jonny Persey
Producer
Michael Kuhn
Executive Producer
Kevin Loader
Executive Producer
Nina Kellgren
Cinematographer
David Freeman
Film Editor
Ilona Sekacz
Composer
Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Wondrous Oblivion

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Critic Reviews for Wondrous Oblivion

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (14)

  • This competitive atmosphere of unease moves the film along, but it is full of forebodings that it does not follow through. Something for socially alert, gentle 12-year olds.

    December 15, 2017 | Full Review…

    Antonia Quirke

    London Evening Standard
    Top Critic

  • Wondrous Oblivion is a timeless tale of an 11-year-old South London boy putting aside boyish things. Writer-director Paul Morrison affirms PG-rated life lessons that could appeal to 11-year-olds and their elders alike.

    January 12, 2007 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    Bill Stamets

    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic

  • For all its bright-hued nostalgia (the cricket greens are practically incandescent), Wondrous Oblivion edges up to hard truths, most powerfully expressed in Lindo's towering performance.

    December 30, 2006 | Rating: 4.5/5 | Full Review…

    Sam Adams

    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic

  • You don't have to know anything about the sport of cricket to be charmed by Wondrous Oblivion, a British film that is finally getting a well-deserved theatrical release after opening the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in 2004.

    December 22, 2006 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    G. Allen Johnson

    San Francisco Chronicle
    Top Critic

  • It's a delight to see Delroy Lindo -- perpetually cast as tough cops and tougher crooks -- playing a tender father and decent (if struggling) husband.

    November 6, 2006 | Rating: 2.5/4

    Stephen Whitty

    Newark Star-Ledger
    Top Critic

  • The film feels like the Cliffs Notes version of what might have been a much longer and certainly more satisfying story.

    November 3, 2006 | Rating: 2.5/4

    John Anderson

    Newsday
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (41)

Audience Reviews for Wondrous Oblivion

  • Jul 17, 2010
    The term "Coming of Age" has become somewhat of a cliché, but director Paul Morrison has given audiences such a well-crafted, beautifully-rendered tale, that an obligatory inclusion by this reviewer of the term will be quite forgiven here. Think: Air Raid Araby. It tends to be heavy-handed at times, but the spot-on performances carry the weight splendidly. In this PG-13-rated drama Wondrous Oblivion, a young Jewish boy (Sam Smith III) learns to tackle adversity in post-war 1940s England after his Jamaican neighbors teach him the game of cricket. A cross between Barry Levinson's American fable Avalon and the British hit Billy Elliot, Wondrous Oblivion wears its well-worn adversity theme like a badge...but, because the scenario is wholly original, not to point of being over-bearing. Rather, this import plays out breezily, stumbling only slightly when the story veers off into an unnecessary sub-plot featuring the boy's mother (Woof) and mentor neighbor (Lindo). Should they remain oblivious to this rub, however, moviegoers will enjoy two hours of near-wonderment. Bottom line: Wondrously told.
    Jeff B Super Reviewer
  • Jan 25, 2008
    I don't understand much about Cricket but this was a good movie about friendship.
    Ida K Super Reviewer
  • Nov 14, 2007
    [font=Century Gothic]"Wondrous Oblivion" takes place in South London in 1960 where David Wiseman(Sam Smith) is the child of Jewish refugees(Emily Woof & Stanley Townsend). He attends a private school where despite his love for the sport of cricket, he cannot play a lick. One day, the Wisemans get new neighbors from Jamaica. The father(Delroy Lindo) builds a cricket pitch in his backyard to coach his daughter, Judy(Leonie Elliott), in the sport. And soon he is also coaching David, too...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Wondrous Oblivion" is an amiable bit of anti-nostalgia that is well-meaning to the hilt. It deftly avoids the sugarcoating that usually occurs with coming-of-age movies, in order to explore the racism and prejudice of the day, while also promoting the broadening of one's horizons. The movie is about how a society improves and diversifies itself by embracing the children of immigrants by way of the dominant culture. In the movie, this is embodied in cricket(And there is a creative use for a cricket ball in the movie.) where playing and having fun are important, not winning. [/font]
    Walter M Super Reviewer
  • May 09, 2007
    A simple, yet wonderful drama.
    Kevin M Super Reviewer
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