ODDS are you missed the touching thriller “Won derful Town” when it had a one-week run last July at the Anthology. Now that the film is out on DVD (via Kino), there is no excuse not to see it.
The setting is Takua Pa, Thailand, a coastal town devastated by the gigantic Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 225,000 people. Eight thousand of the deaths were in Takua Pa.
Moved by the destruction there, Thai filmmaker Aditya Assarat chose Takua Pa as the setting for “Wonderful Town,” which garnered awards on the festival circuit and screened at Gotham’s New Directors/New Films series in 2008.
The story begins slowly and deceptively. Ton, an architect from Bangkok, arrives in the small town to supervise construction of a beachfront resort.
He checks into a hotel that thrived before the tsunami but is now all but empty. It is run by Na, who cares not only for the hotel but also for her brother’s young son.
The boy’s father, meanwhile, calls an abandoned factory his home.
From the start, Ton and Na have eyes for each other and (no surprise here) they end up in bed.
Viewers expecting a love story with a happy ending will be shocked by the turn of events.
Occasionally, Assarat – who studied in the US – drops a hint about sinister events to come, but nothing prepares the audience for what does happen.
* Who says Friday the 13th is unlucky? This Friday, which happens to be the 13th, proves fortunate for film lovers.
That’s the day BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn begins a 12-film retrospective tribute to the great Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer.
Dreyer (1889-1968) is noted for his bare-bones scripts and austere images. He often outdoes Bergman in the angst department.
The opener at BAM is “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928), which is considered by many to be Dreyer’s greatest achievement.
The account of the French martyr’s final day features Maria Falconetti as Joan. She had a one-of-a-kind face, which Dreyer depicts in multiple close-ups.
The 6:50 screening will be accompanied by Donald Sosin at the piano. The 9:15 show will be completely silent.
Other films in the retro include “Day of Wrath” (1943), “Ordet” (1955), “Vampyr” (1932) – his first talkie – and “The Parson’s Widow” (1920).
The program continues through the end of the month. See bam.org for details.
V.A. Musetto is film editor of The Post; vam@nypost.com.