Review of The Center of the World (2001) by Alex C — 16 Mar 2010
Wayne Wang's "The Center of the World" is a real, painful story about two lost souls. A guy who is a wealthy in the dot com era and a female stripper.(they're really called business women because they never mix real emotional love with work, same applies for webcam ladies, the product is their bodies. Take it or leave it.).
They go to Vegas for three days together where the female has listed certain rules to the deal. No intercourse, sexual contact between 10pm to 2am, no touching, etc...etc.
The man is fine by that but how long will those rules last until? They sort of try to get to know each other and she can see that he isn't a creep, when 10pm hits she transforms into an erotic attractive woman.
TCOTW is not pornography, sex isn;t even the main subject but it's about the deal and of course cash. They are both the same, no one is greater then the other, at first I started to resent the female because she managed to get the upper hand but did we not forget the wealthy guy? he still manages to make money while he leaves his investors in the wind, and what about a third party who enters the scene? She happens to be the stripper's girlfriend and shows up at their hotel beaten to a pulp.(she explains what happend but im too lazy to give details).
At first I started to cringe because surely this felt like a setup while somehow the third girl was gonna run away with his money(he gives her the money anyway out of curtesy)ugh...I don't know sure seems like it, either that or the beat up chick is a very good actress.
Their is a lot of suspence in this film and I was desperately waiting for the two to drop the deal and start to really like each other, when the suspense ended I was in amazment. A total shocker.
The ending fits so well as to believe did these two business souls meet again? or was this the past? You know what I think? since this movie felt very real at times I think those two never saw each other again. To each's own.
Molly Parker, Peter Sarsgaard, Carla Gugino turn in strong performances.
This review of The Center of the World (2001) was written by Alex C on 16 Mar 2010.
The Center of the World has generally received mixed reviews.
Was this review helpful?
