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Wondrous Oblivion

Play trailer Poster for Wondrous Oblivion PG 2003 1h 46m Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
65% Tomatometer 40 Reviews 68% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
White residents react with horror when a Jamaican family moves into their working-class neighborhood in 1960 London. However, 11-year-old David Wiseman (Sam Smith) discovers that he and his new neighbor, Dennis (Delroy Lindo), share a passion for cricket. Later, David's mother (Emily Woof) discovers that she has a passion for Dennis.
Wondrous Oblivion

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Critics Consensus

This coming-of-age/cricket tale wants to be touching, but is too often sappy.

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Critics Reviews

View All (40) Critics Reviews
Antonia Quirke London Evening Standard This competitive atmosphere of unease moves the film along, but it is full of forebodings that it does not follow through. Something for socially alert, gentle 12-year olds. Dec 15, 2017 Full Review Bill Stamets Chicago Sun-Times Wondrous Oblivion is a timeless tale of an 11-year-old South London boy putting aside boyish things. Writer-director Paul Morrison affirms PG-rated life lessons that could appeal to 11-year-olds and their elders alike. Rated: 3/4 Jan 12, 2007 Full Review Sam Adams Los Angeles Times For all its bright-hued nostalgia (the cricket greens are practically incandescent), Wondrous Oblivion edges up to hard truths, most powerfully expressed in Lindo's towering performance. Rated: 4.5/5 Dec 30, 2006 Full Review Jules Brenner Cinema Signals The challenges of friendship across color lines. Rated: 3/5 Jun 17, 2007 Full Review Maria Garcia Film Journal International Evocative, beautifully photographed and skillfully directed. Mar 1, 2007 Full Review Phil Villarreal Arizona Daily Star David's favorite exclamation is "wondrous!" %u2014 which happens to be a fitting description for the talents of writer/director Paul Morrison. Rated: 3/4 Feb 1, 2007 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This film features the beginnings of ideas, but thoughts are not carried through. The scope is too wide and the script and direction fail to carry it off. There's a strange flatness to emotional scenes -- such as someone warning of a fire and that people need to get out. Too often this has the strange energy and lack of authenticity often seen in an amateur stage production. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member I don't know (or care about) the first thing about cricket, but I loved this movie. It was a great story and had a point. It was cute and powerful-I would highly recommend. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member This is an uplifting, feel-good movie with a happy ending that I'd feel comfortable sharing with my grandchildren. Even, to an American, with no understanding of cricket, there is sufficient excitement and relation to the idolization of sports heroes that is common to our sporting traditions. The racial and religious coloring, the demonstration of good instincts overcoming obstacles, the setting in working class England, the Jamaican and Jewish immigrants finding common ground in celebration of this most English of sports, all made for wonderful holiday entertainment. I thought that the sexual tension was resolved in fairy tale fashion, and the movie seemingly ending in a "they went on to live happily, ever after" theme, was just kind of fable that I wanted to believe in, this holiday season. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member A fine example of cinematic storytelling. Cricket is a theme and those who appreciate the sport will like this, but it's really about social change on several levels. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member jangan anggap enteng film ini,,walaupun hanya mendapat rating 3 bintang,,,akan tetapi tema cerita yg di angkat sangat mengena..,, memadukan 2 ras tertindas sebagai center utama film..,,di kemasnya pun tidak seperti drama "strongly moving"...film ini lebih dekat dengan keceriaan,,,... film ini mengingatkanku dengan film "billy elliot",,dmana sang karakter mengejar impiannya tanpa harus peduli dengan lingkungan sekitarnya..,, Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member The term "Coming of Age" has become somewhat of a cliché, but director Paul Morrison has given audiences such a well-crafted, beautifully-rendered tale, that an obligatory inclusion by this reviewer of the term will be quite forgiven here. Think: Air Raid Araby. It tends to be heavy-handed at times, but the spot-on performances carry the weight splendidly. In this PG-13-rated drama Wondrous Oblivion, a young Jewish boy (Sam Smith III) learns to tackle adversity in post-war 1940s England after his Jamaican neighbors teach him the game of cricket. A cross between Barry Levinson's American fable Avalon and the British hit Billy Elliot, Wondrous Oblivion wears its well-worn adversity theme like a badge...but, because the scenario is wholly original, not to point of being over-bearing. Rather, this import plays out breezily, stumbling only slightly when the story veers off into an unnecessary sub-plot featuring the boy's mother (Woof) and mentor neighbor (Lindo). Should they remain oblivious to this rub, however, moviegoers will enjoy two hours of near-wonderment. Bottom line: Wondrously told. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Wondrous Oblivion

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis White residents react with horror when a Jamaican family moves into their working-class neighborhood in 1960 London. However, 11-year-old David Wiseman (Sam Smith) discovers that he and his new neighbor, Dennis (Delroy Lindo), share a passion for cricket. Later, David's mother (Emily Woof) discovers that she has a passion for Dennis.
Director
Paul Morrison
Producer
Jonny Persey
Screenwriter
Paul Morrison
Production Co
APT Productions
Rating
PG (Thematic Material|Racial Remarks|Language|Brief Smoking by Minors|Sensuality|Some Violence)
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Original Language
British English
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jul 21, 2006
Release Date (DVD)
Mar 20, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA)
$88.6K
Runtime
1h 46m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital