The Center of the World
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Movie Reviews of The Center of the World
Movie Review: Worth seeing, but distractingly flawed
Summary: 3 Stars
The only thing that separates this film from high-budget Hollywood stuff is the poor production quality. Some of the actors are second-rate (including the male lead) and the fact-checking, research, and continuity could have been a lot better. In the non-sex scenes, the writing was naive (or just ignorant) and the acting unconvincing. The theme and the development of that theme are pretty ordinary and eminently marketable.However, it's a titillating, sexy movie. Someone else described it as soft porn.... I think that's a fair description.
Movie Review: Are you kidding me?
Summary: 3 Stars
"Second-rate"?!?! You're joking right? Peter Sarsgaard is an amazing actor -- and in my opinion, the best thing about this film. This guy's range is huge.Movie Review: Virtually interesting.
Summary: 2 Stars
In outline, 'Center of the World' is one of those envelope-pushing, censor-baiting films like 'Intimacy' that combines the use of digital film-making and the subject matter of explicit sex to create a more immediate and frank picture of reality, or realism. this being a film by Wayne Wang and co-written by Paul Auster, we can at least expect some intelligence in this case, and 'Center' is less interested in presenting unadorned reality, than exploring the links between digital film-making and sexuality. The artificial premise - a dot.com millionaire takes a lap-dancer to Las Vegas for a 'romantic' weekend - is heightened by the artificial flashback structure; the strict rules laid down by the woman; the theatrical rituals in which we see every stage in the process of making the erotic illusion, the make-up, clothes, music, body movement, dialogue etc.; the theatrical surroundings, the complex framing of the hotel rooms, with their fairy-tale-like doorways restricting passage, and paintings of nude figures; the phoniness of Las Vegas itself, less the centre of the world than a gaudy, miniature recreation of it. This emphasis on the artifice of sex, supposedly the most natural relation between two people, its rules, games, strategies, rituals etc., is much more convincing than the contrived realism of 'Intimacy''s grappling.Allied to this artifice of subject matter is Wang's film-making. Taking his digital camera which facilitates greater realism, and setting it in Las Vegas, makes the real even more artificial, the outlines of bodies and surfaces heightened, as if against a backdrop, the characters removed from their surroundings. Wang makes great play with reflections (mirrors, windows, glass) to elucidate his main theme, the conflict between reality and illusion, between genuine emotion and an act, that pivots the story. But he also makes us aware of the presence of the camera, its elaborate, artifical movements, the degrading and disintegration of the image, which become a thematic, even philosophical reflection on the human drama. More importantly, Wang reveals the limitation of digital's claims on the real - in one brilliant scene, the camera is tied to a rollercoaster: the image can't keep up with the speed and breaks up, fails, just as Wang knows the representation of explicit sex can never go the whole way, which the child-like Richard learns devastatingly, forever uncomprehending that centre of the world, female sexuality.
so the film is intelligent and sensitive. there are, however, two big problems. the first is that Molly Parker takes all the risks, her body is constantly on display, often filmed in ways flattering to the voyeur. It could be argued, from the opening credits of a computer screen, the hero's centre of the world, that the entire story is the fantasy of a nerd (the ambiguity of the flashbacks further question the narrative 'reality'), that everything must be mediated through his no-risk, no-show eyes. but whatever way you argue it, it's always the woman taking her clothes off. Secondly, and more damagingly, these films like 'Intimacy' are supposed to be 'about' sex, but they have no faith in the audience's interest and have to impose stories around it, wending towards utterly predictable climaxes or releases, which is why 'In the Realm of the Senses', a film unflinching and uncluttered in its representation of sex, remains unequalled. So 'Centre', for all its ambition and frequent, ironic wit, ends up becoming rather dull.
Movie Review: Slow and Steady Lost the Race
Summary: 2 Stars
I found this movie to be pretty flat. I was expecting it to be a little more entertaining after reading other reviews. The characters were well done by the actors, but predictable. Also, the one scene that earned it an unrated listing (lollipop) could have been deleted without removing from the overall message of the movie. It is almost like Wang just wanted to see if he could make the first porn movie with a plot and had to sneak something in the movie that would push it past a standard R rating. I have seen worse films, but my time is too precious to have wasted it on this 88 minute snooze fest. It was too slow and depressing for me. But maybe that is what the lives of a "computer geek" and a "lonely stripper" are all about: a few minutes of excitement interspersed with hours of boredom and self-loathing.Movie Review: Potential not fully developed
Summary: 2 Stars
Center of the world certainly has a good premise. However the movie seems to favor explicit "eroticsm" over character development. when the film ended I kinda wished it was longer. I guess that's a good thing. But the reason why is that I didn't get to know these people. WHy is the guy such a social [misfit]? He being a computer whizz doesn't fully explain it. I thought some of the cutesy moments like her being a southern belle talking dirty in the bar, was a little forced. But over all I felt the film mainly wanted to titilate, with some sheens of artistry here and there. IT was a good movie more of a 2 and a half than a 2, but it didn't quite go the distance for me.