Die Mitte der Welt

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.

A film like a spring wind. warm, fresh, nice, refreshing. a story about love, life, teens, family. not perfect - to critic it becomes real temptanting - but having few good points - from atmosphere to actors. so, a nice film with few lovely scenes. sure, it could be better. but it is , from start, not the object of high expectations. for many reasons. first - it propose cut boys, eccentric feminine characters, a not awfull story and reasonable balancce between present and past. and something escaping from precise definition. a feeling, slices of pure, honest joy, memories and traits of storm, dialogues and relations who are pieces of a puzzle who could be more complex . but, it is a refreshing film. and this, for me, is the most important thing for me.

Good acting, good story. Enjoyed the movie and would watch it again.

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.

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.