Die Mitte der Welt

What does cinema mean to you? To me it means emotions and stories, told with moving images, with music and with words. And, in my opinion, for cinema to be at its greatest it needs to brave and vulnerable.

Center of My World is exactly that: brave and vulnerable. And intimate. And true.

Its is the story of Phil, a standard teenager, who is just a little gayer than the rest. But him being gay is really not an important part of the story.

He struggles with his family, with deeply hidden secrets of the past and their effects in the present, which may break his family apart. And he falls in love for the first time. That's really it.

And while watching this in the cinema some people laughed at the film. Because it shows how love is, unironically and over-the-top. It dives deep into Phil's emotions and shows us not only the center of his world, but maybe even the center of THE world (hence the original German title "The Center of the World"). And most people can not let themselves dive into these depths.

And if you want to experience this small gem of a movie, you have to make yourself vulnerable, too. Leave your irony at home, just watch this movie as you are - naked and vulnerable.

Then you may see what cinema can do, what cinema is for.

To start with, I completely disagree with a previous 2/10 review.

"Center of my world" / "Die Mitte der Welt" was and is one of my most beloved novels I first read end of the 90ies shortly before it has been released. It's a wonderful book I always return to. I didn't know how it could be brought to screen - until now.

When I first saw the trailer I was already roped back into the world of Steinhöfels book. I needed to see this film and I did on the first weekend. While they removed several parallel and back stories of the book to create a better narration for the screen, they managed to keep the dreamy atmosphere of the book for the whole 2 hours. The main cast is more than perfect, from Louis Hofmann as Phil to Sabine Timeteo as his mother, to Jannik Schürmann as Nicholas. I fell in love with each of them. The setting in the small town and the enchanted home of the "different" family was a perfect match to the tone and style of the story. It was wonderful to live, laugh and cry with the characters throughout, a very emotional, dreamy, wonderful journey, accompanied with a beautiful soundtrack. The love story between the two main characters blew me away, so real, intimate and wonderful to watch.

I didn't see any other film this year that I embraced so much like "Die Mitte der Welt". Maybe I will see it a second time in the cinema but the Blu-ray will be on my shelves on day one. Go and watch it, it won't get better this year.

The greatest strength of this coming-of-age story that centers on a young gay man is that his sexuality is established: being gay is not his discovery or central point of the film. He knows he's gay, as does his mom, sister, friends and neighbors. This film is about relationships -- an entire spectrum of them, and not just his interactions. Louis Hofmann as Phil turns in a stunning performance, a great deal of his best moments are unspoken and occur on his face and in his eyes. Jannick Schulmann as Nicholas is ferociously seductive and sweeps Phil and us onlookers off our feet. The surroundings feel natural and speak of each character beautifully. When elements begin coming together, the results are stunning, pointing to a strong script.

I enjoyed it. I may be simple and I may be unable to understand the nuances that apparently abound, but for sheer entertainment for me, it was pleasing. So many of IMDb critics forget that they are watching a film that is designed to entertain. They go off on journey of esoteric criticisms that only the pompous and pretentious would understand. Sit back, open a beer and view it for what is was - just a film, and to me, an enjoyable one.

I've read the book some years ago. I remember being fascinated by the almost fantasy-like world in which our hero and his family live. They are funny, warmhearted, easygoing and freewheeling -and there is some magic secret waiting to be uncovered. And the strange boy has secrets too and is shrouded in mysteries. In the film almost all of the females are shrill borderline cases, acting way over the top most of the time. Our hero is weak willed and confused (which is okay for a teenager coming of age) and must be constantly advised and be comforted by those females who can't master their own affairs. The other boy comes across as a blunt, sexy, needy and selfish guy without any mystery in his life. Being gay myself I appreciate the nicely filmed sex-scenes (guys have sex in the nude and are not covered in linen and shorts like their american brothers ). Louis Hofmann and Jannik Schümann are believable in their roles (as the director sees them) but the MAGIC which hovers about them in the book can't be felt here.