Though perhaps too slowly paced and long, The World offers an intriguing glimpse into China's modernization and the growing ennui of some of its people.
Though perhaps too slowly paced and long, The World offers an intriguing glimpse into China's modernization and the growing ennui of some of its people.
A young dancer, her security-guard boyfriend and others work at World Park, a bizarre cross-pollination of Las Vegas and Epcot Center where visitors can interact with famous international monuments without ever leaving the Bejing suburbs. Daily lavish shows are performed amongst replicas of the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark's Square, Big Ben, the Pyramids and even the Twin Towers. But working beyond the kitsch potential, 'The World' casts a compassionate eye on the daily loves,
friendships and desperate dreams of these provincial workers.
A tonally flat experience. The movie's highs and lows are modulated to the point where nothing moves you or touches you in these lives of not-desperate-enough desperation.
Gives one a rough idea about the Chinese Dream through its modern day landscape and relating the new China to the hopes and aspirations of its young citizens.
Beyond the novelty of the setting -- which isn't even that novel when you have something similar a few exits south -- there's just not enough going on.
Definitely worth watching for its' absolutely stunning cinematography. The film takes place almost entirely inside a 114-acre theme park, World Park, on the outskirts of Beijing. The park contains 1/3 scaled replicas of internationally renowned buildings and sites, including the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, London Bridge, etc.A slow-paced melodrama of contemporary Chinese society, with something to say about the growing uniformity of our world.
July 12, 2009
El Hombre Invisible
Super Reviewer
An unfortunately average portrayal of how a culture interprets the rest of the world and adapts to it.
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