The World (2005)
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Tao Zhao, Jing Zha, Chen Taisheng, Wang Yiqun, Wang Hongwei
DVD Info
Release:
Feb 14, 2006
DVD Features:
- Widescreen 2.35
Additional Release Material:
- Interview
- Theatrical Trailer
- Production Notes
Text/Photo Gallery:
- On Set Photo Gallery
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
The World feels too small in scope--ironic considering its title.
The World is less a condemnation of the current state of the world than an attempt to explain and come to terms with it.
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.
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.
It's a heartbreaking, beautiful movie that gains strength from its deep characterizations.
... an inspired metaphor for the strange new world of modern China in the global economy.
The World steeps the viewer in a culture that clings to traditional conventions but must...embrace the mores of the high-tech, fast paced world....
It has a romantic power that seeps into your bones, with its languid rhythms, general plotlessness, and fierce attention to surreal detail.
Jia has a passion for long-held shots that probe both character and institutional contradictions without mercy. But with some compassion and much dry wit.
The World has a lot to say and is not in any unholy rush to say it.
Jia’s most extraordinary mapping isn’t of an external landscape, but an emotional one. Without ever leaving Beijing, he shows us an entire universe of human joy, frailty and sorrow.
Flawed only by its abrupt and stylistically awkward ending, The World is a tragic, visionary work.
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