Wonderful Town 2007

A cautious love affair, caught between trauma in the recent past and hope for the future, is at the centre of this haunting picture of life after the 2004 tsunami. Ton, a young Bangkok architect, is in a small town in the south of Thailand to supervise the construction of a beach resort ravaged by the disaster. Na, the pretty, guarded proprietor of the hotel, stirs his attention and he hers. But can anyone in this town be in the mood for love? This is a film of finely measured atmospheres: the ghostly tranquillity of the new, unpopulated town; the slow rebuilding of the beach; the hushed ebb and flow of the tides; the glimmering sea; the breeze in the coconut trees; the listlessness of the few surviving locals, dependent for their livelihoods on non-existent tourists. This supremely assured debut has made Aditya Assarat the year's most honoured new Asian director. — BG