Wonderful Town by Aditya Assarat

In the first scene of Wonderful Town, waves break on a beach. Na awakes from her dream, resting on the counter of the hotel she takes care of. Her family hotel is located in Takua Pa in Thailand, which was devastated by a tsunami several years ago. The town has recovered, but the water still interposes itself between the inhabitants’ lives – through the constant raining, the river that carries death away, and the inexorable strength of the waves; as inexorable as Na’s destiny.

This destiny brings Ton to the hotel. An architect from Bangkok, he comes to supervise the construction of a resort on the beach. Since he defines himself as a “regular” man, he decides to stay at Na’s hotel. That’s when something predictable happens: the two loners start a romantic fling and get close even though they are so different – she is an innocent young woman from the countryside; he is a young man lost in the middle of all the cars and people of Bangkok. Like he says, “no one or a lot of people, isn’t it the same?”

But waves come and go, and soon the small town’s residents, including Na’s rebellious brother, begin to bother their relationship. Everything happens subtly, from the blooming of the romance to the disapproval it causes, and this is probably one of the film’s major achievements. Another quality of the film is that it deals - in a veiled way - with the recent history of a country ruined by a natural disaster. Using water as a metaphor, beautiful landscapes, and an almost impossible romance, Thai director Aditya Assarat conveys his message with typically oriental delicacy.

Assarat began his career directing short films, many of them shown at festivals all around the world. In 2005 he released 3 Friends, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. With Wonderful Town, the director won the VPRO Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and five trophies at the 18th Subannahongsa Awards, Thailand’s most important film award.

Martha Lopes