The Center of the World

"Center of the World" is a very well photographed drama and is highly worth a viewing, but has several flaws.

"Center of the World", an almost mirror image of "Leaving Las Vegas" (better film), is about a computer whiz named Richard's (Peter Sarsgaard) three day escape from his everyday life to Las Vegas with a stripper named Florence (the lovely Molly Parker), who he pays to go with him under the conditions they won't have sex.

But Richard's promise eventually gets the best of him and he begins to obsess about having the best sex of his life with Florence. Florence, meanwhile, holds Richard back with teases and a "Fire and Ice" (Don't ask me) routine off screen.

With each tease, the characters' chemistry builds up and we begin to wonder if Richard and Florence are actually falling in love.

"Center of the World" has beautiful cinematography. The entire film was shot on tape and a few scenes are in one of the best shades of black and white I've ever scene.

Peter Sarsgaard is very good as the naive but extremely polite computer whiz and Molly Parker (although very better in "Pure") pours herself into the tough role of Florence almost as good as Jennifer Connely portrayed Marion in "Requiem for a Dream".

The film does have several flaws though. It has far too many sex scenes (often gratuitous), the chemistry between the two characters blooms and dies at any given time and the surprise ending is almost ruined by two scenes directly after the surprise (you'll have to see for yourself).

"Center of the World" is a good film worth watching once.

If you decide to rent this film or catch it on HBO (which seems to run it several times a month these days), know up front that it is uneven and ultimately doesn't really end up anywhere interesting. The writer/director Wang was trapped with only two possible outcomes, granted. But after the level of trust his performers put into him, he owed them and us something more satisfying than where the movie takes the audience. However, the performance of Molly Parker makes watching this film more than worth the failings of the script.

No one, NO ONE, came close to what she does in this film that year. If you have any respect left for the choices the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members, not to mention most of the critic groups, don't watch this movie. The fact that Parker was completely overlooked, while Julie Robert's over-hyped, far-short-of-spectacular turn in ERIN BROCKOVICH got the accolades, shows what total rubbish these critical popularity horse races really are. In CENTER OF THE WORLD Parker gives an astoundingly brave performance. Yet it is the nuanced, subtle touches that show the viewer her character's shifting attitudes that make it such a stand-out job.

Without a single line of expository dialogue to illuminate the internal one, one can follow the character's struggle to maintain the control she thought she had on her own emotions. The idea that some young people have the wisdom of adults without having had the experiences to form that wisdom and what happens when they face situations that test them in a similiar fashion is very intriguing. Its a shame the film cannot match the effort Parker puts into it. Peter Sarsgaard does a 180 degree flip from his turn in BOYS DON'T CRY and while not as amazing as Parker, he does fine job too. His character is more of a now stock one: the brilliant guy with immature sexual development.

But above all else, bravo Ms Parker, BRAVO!

"You don't *look* like a stripper..." was the first clue. Director Wang, who clearly OK'd Zalman King/Adrian Lyne film style ad and packaging art, was hardly hiding the reality vs. fantasy (or real vs. fake) themes of his superb dot-com romantic tragedy much past the opening credits.

Wang's use of hand-held camera, grainy 8mm, incandescent lighting color wash, high-definition close ups, and assorted traditional noir and verite style cinematography and direction is a breakthough exploration of digital media.

Vegas visitors brave enough to leave their Strip casino/hotel cocoons during daylight hours will surely be struck by the almost surreal difference between how ugly and unglamorous the city is by day and how other-worldly beautiful after dark. Florence, however, is no Vegas...

Get it? Florence (Italy), is *real*, and every flaw she (the city) may have simply adds to the unearthly beauty she emanates. Whether filmed in handi-cam, Fisher-Price pixelvision, or 70mm IMAX, at high noon or midnight, the beauty of Florence (Italy) is timeless and media-independent. At least in the hands of Wayne Wang, Florence glows with or without the lipstick and latex...I mean neon.

Richard's visit to the Venetian Casino/Hotel near the end of the movie completes the tragic romantic (city) metaphor. The "canals" at the Venetian Hotel are truly as pathetic as the film depicts them.

The problem is, these two tragic lovers have always kept a safe distance away from Florence (Italy), or *reality*, and are tragically resigned to a Vegas-reality. Or a dot-com reality...

Filmed digitally and rendered as cinema verite, even duplicating the "grainy" silver halide crystal image artifact of low light film stock with a digital effect extends the film's theme to the medium communicating the artist's expression.

Great film.

I just wish my many shares of homegrocer.com were as valuable as a single used copy of a DVD of this film....or a single apple from an actual grocer.....

The Center of the World is a film that will separate the careful, thoughtful viewers of cinema from the tourists. Understandably, an unrated movie about a stripper and her client heading to Las Vegas for a three-day long, $10,000.00 lap dance is bound to attract a certain crowd. And most of them will be disappointed. The audience will probably split three ways: Those that are going to be disappointed because it isn't `Pretty Woman', those that will be disappointed that it isn't `sexier', and those careful viewers that will realize the film is neither Hollywood romance nor full-on pornography.

The Center of the World is about human contact as commerce. Both characters supply it. Richard through the internet company he works for, and Florence at Pandora's Box, the strip club where she sells carefully controlled human contact for `$60.00 for two songs.' Ironically, both characters are cut off from what most people would consider normal contact by the fact that they `sell' a specialized form of it. Florence by the rules of her job and Richard by the multiple computers screens he cannot seem to get away from.

The characters are somewhat comfortable in their respective situations until they leave the controlled environments with which they have set up for themselves and with which they are familiar. Even in one of the least real places on earth, Las Vegas, real human contact sneaks in and screws things up. As they start to get to know each other and deal with sometimes mundane and sometimes intense situations, Richard mistakes it for something deeper and Florence sees it for what it is but retreats back into her role as the untouchable stripper. Neither character seems comfortable with normal contact. Florence certainly doesn't want it from someone who pays to see her naked body and Richard seems ill equipped to handle even a normal relationship, let alone one that starts with $10,000.00 cash changing hands.

Viewers looking for a fairytale will be just as disappointed as those looking for hardcore porn. Yes, there is explicit nudity. But it's cold, calculated nudity. Nudity stripped of it's erotic power. Yes, there is a pretty stripper and rich guy willing to pay for love. But he isn't Richard Gere and she isn't Julia Roberts and this isn't Hollywood.

An extremely articulate and well-observed film from Wayne Wang, about what it means to have power - financial power, sexual power - and how shallow this power truly is, especially when it's detached from anything resembling true involvement, genuine passion. Both characters are obsessed with The Game, and they are both very good at it. Peter Sarsgaard and Molly Parker are both superb, letting us see enough of their characters' inner workings to completely understand them without showing too much, losing the edge. Each has what the other thinks he/she needs, and the film is basically a discourse on negotiation - what you will give up to get what you desire? Issues of control are central to the theme, and the cool thing is, both characters know it and they get off on that more than the actual sex itself.