Wonderful Town
Screening: Monday 1 March 2010
Thailand 2007.Director: Aditya Assarat.
Starring: Anchalee Saisoontorn, Supphasit Kansen.
Subtitles.
Certificate: 15. 92 minutes.
Synopsis
City architect Ton (Kansen) is sent to the southern coastal town of Takua Pa (north of Phuket) to work on the construction of a beach-front tourist hotel. Ton chooses to lodge in a small somewhat worn out family run hotel, which is managed by the daughter Na. A romance grows slowly as the two constantly cross paths at the hotel, but as their love grows and becomes more open, gossip starts, and a threat arises from her hoodlum brother.The film has a disturbing, ominous tone. The region is one of the world’s most beautiful with sun-kissed beaches, but here it is portrayed as overcast, humid and constantly raining. Ton is warned of spirits at the site of the destroyed hotel adjacent to the new one being constructed. There is a constant menace from a gang of bored local boys. All is not well in this paradise.
Notes
The film's title is ironic. Assarat wants us to sense that the area is paradise lost. It is populated by damaged and haunted souls who may not be able to get what they want from life.Takua Pa is a coastal town in southern Thailand that lost more than 8,000 habitants when the Asian tsunami struck on 26 December 2004. Takua Pa, once a thriving community, still struggles to recover from the tsunami and the devastation is evident from abandoned homes and businesses and the absence of people in a once thriving region.
Assarat uses sound to great effect. Ambient noise and certain sounds stand out. We focus more on these due to the lack of the noise of people and they add to the sense of impending tragedy.
