The Center of the World
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Movie Reviews of The Center of the World
Movie Review: Behind the Curtain without pulling it open
Summary: 4 Stars
Well I went to see "Center of the World" and I was quite impress. Mostly to the director's ability to allow the audience to know what is behind the "curtain" without pulling it open. The movie is two hours of a stripper and a client in Las Vegas. Three nights of pleasure and fun without commitment but a few rules set by the woman. Two rules that enable her to maintain distance without emotional attachment. The man is simply a business man who is down in his life, can't find the motivation to be ambitious. His friends thinks that he needs to be ... to fix the problem. Both characters have issues in their lives, yet you never really know what they are. You can see yourself playing either role, and understand alittle about human nature: sometimes we use ... as a cover-up and a way to avoid the real problems or emotions. Throughout the movie you notice that the two characters are geniunely falling for each other: the solution; create further distance between the two, what else. By the end of the movie we see the two characters ... in the past few days. The man states, as he is lying under his desk, "we all claim a space in this life..." I was quite impressed with the movie. I could relate very well, I think we all can, with the characters motives and situationsMovie Review: Reality check.
Summary: 4 Stars
Touted as the modern "Last Tango in Paris", a movie I neither understood nor enjoyed, this unrated film still caught my eye. I was intrigued enough by the plot synopsis of "Center of the World" - computer geek hires stripper for a $10k paid trip to Vegas. The strip related scenes were tasteful and focused on the psychology more than the detailed physiology. The stripper was very real, no Pam Anderson look alike. These two elements made the entire film more inviting to me. A film that provoked some thought and discussion. Money and sex -- when the power changes hands? What is the gender difference between love and sex? When does a man think of a woman's pleasure? Sexual deviance, over sexed desensitization, when does a man say "no"? What will become of the guy who watches 3 computer screens at work - work, stocks, and ..., and yet has no time to have a normal social life? This film also dares to show the most real woman's ... -- about time! Films truly do give us impressions about what sex is supposed to be like, and hello - most films are directed by men - so how often do we actually see a realistic female ... and not some male interpretive fantasy?Movie Review: Pretty Woman meets Indecent Proposal
Summary: 4 Stars
If this film had a rating it would, at best, be NC17. It is not a polite movie. Though both of the protagonists are very polite with each other.Quick plot summary: Nerd gets rich on software development. Meets a lap dancer. Pays her $10,000 to spend a weekend with him in Vegas. She lays down certain rules, but then accepts.
The visual style of the film is wonderful. There are images that are close to unforgettable. There are images that are close to Mapplethorpian. The story is a wonderful pendulum between reality and fantasy, between what is and what might be.
The title is explained early in the film. I leave it there for you to discover. But like the rest of the film it is both polite and raunchy.
You see the illusion. Vegas is a perfect place to watch the illusion being created. But then you see shots of Vegas that you never see. A roller coaster in downtown Vegas? For adults?
Wang directs a wonderful film. If you aren't afraid of sex, if psychological violence doesn't make you crawl, you won't be disappointed. If you can understand that illusion is the center of the universe, this is a film that will go into your permenant collection.
Movie Review: REEL VIRTUAL SEX?
Summary: 4 Stars
...Wayne Wang's notorious, controversial and explicit "CENTER OF THE WORLD" (Artisan) is a much more polished piece of work than "Romance." It also explores the bleak terrain of emotional isolation. This time the protagonist is a rich internet geek (Peter Sarsgaard) who literally contracts with a rock and roll drummer and part-time stripper (Molly (Parker) for a sexual get-away in Las Vegas. The phoniness of Vegas and the impersonal internet are more than metaphors for what amounts to virtual sex in real life. The basic elements are familiar in countless other love stories, but here the physicality of the two main characters dominates everything. In many ways we root for them to break out of their protective shells and actually connect with the hearts. Sometimes the walls we build to keep out the bad cuts us off from life itself. This film, shot on high definition video, evokes a more personal and immediate response and is much more effective on DVD than it is projected in a theater. Longing for intimacy but in the grip of a fear of letting go leaves the main characters with only the option of exploring physical sensations as soulless
Movie Review: I'll Show You Real....
Summary: 4 Stars
This is what Florence (Molly Parker) shows Richard (Peter Sarsgaard) at the end of the movie. The full magnitude and sensation of a woman's orgasm. But this movie isn't about sex or money;although, the viewer will find this movie intensely erotic and with the power struggle of money and privation. This movie is a jarring look at the difference between sexual addiction used by Richard to cover up the pain over his father's death and numb the anxiety over his inadequate way of coping with his responsibilities in his business. Florence is a working girl, a lap dancer in a strip club, using sex and fantasy to entice a man's attention and money. However, there are moments in the movie where you can see and feel the void and hollowness left when sexual intimacy is without real love. That is something to be learned in another movie or writing; although not here, this movie does hand out valuable lessons on the avoidance of pain and the search for real love....