Wonderful Town

The whispered courtship between city-boy architect Ton and bashful hotelier Na unfolds in a rubble-strewn Thai coastal resort ravaged by the tsunami. Slowly paced and spare, this likeable, digitally shot debut deftly plants the pair’s slow-burning romance amid haunting shots of damaged buildings while the setting pushes us to ponder whether their love is born of boredom.

Ironic title aside, there’s little you could peg as humour, but there are lots of smile-raising moments. Things buckle about two-thirds in when the film’s meaning gets submerged in a bizarre gangster subplot, ushered in to draw proceedings to an awkward close