Le centre du monde

To the best of my knowledge "The Center of the World" was shot on a digital camera. If this is the case, then that was a very wise choice for the material and tone of the same. "The Center of the World" is an intellectual adult's version of "Pretty Woman" (although, I couldn't help but notice a few similarities to Egoyam's "Exotica"). On the most basic level is where we leave "Pretty Woman", however. This film is definitely not for all tastes, but that would be a loss for those folks. "The Center of the World" has a lot to say about human sexuality, loneliness, and money and the simple link between them in this modern-age. It's about the loss of human contact and connection between people in the same room; it's about perception and misjudgment. Additionally, there's a very primal ritual running through the sex scenes in this film that speaks volumes about human evolution versus technological evolution. There's a lot here and I don't want to ruin it for anyone by continuing my rant.

...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.

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!

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.

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.