Your Gold Box VHS Used Videos DVD DVD & VHS Movie Showtimes All Products Explore This Video buying info technical information editorial reviews customer reviews I dislike it I love it! 1 2 3 4 5 Edit your ratings Favorite Magazines! Subscribe to entertainment magazines today. Visit the DVD Store Scarlet Diva DVD Calphalon $50 Offer Spend $249 on Calphalon and save $50 on your next Amazon purchase. So You'd Like to... Appreciate Modern FILM NOIR : A guide by Glenn A. Buttkus, Actor, Movie-Buff, Teacher Create your guide Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering. Used & new from $4.60 Have one to sell? Don't have one? We'll set one up for you. The Center of the World (2001) see larger picture List Price: $9.98 Price: $9.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. See details . Availability: Usually ships within 2 to 3 weeks Used & new from $4.60 Edition: See more product details Great Buy Buy this video with Full Body Massage VHS ~ Mimi Rogers today! Buy Together Today: $ 17.97 Customers who bought this video also bought: Crimes of Passion VHS ~ Kathleen Turner Mulholland Drive VHS ~ Justin Theroux CQ VHS ~ Jeremy Davies Poison Ivy - The New Seduction (Unrated Edition) VHS Play Time VHS Explore similar items Product Details Starring: Balthazar Getty , Shane Edelman , See more Director: Wayne Wang Format: Color, Closed-captioned, NTSC Rated: Unrated Studio: Artisan (Fox Video) VHS Features: NTSC format ( US and Canada only. This VHS will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about VHS formats .) Color, Closed-captioned, NTSC From IMDb: Quotes & Trivia ASIN: B00005RIZ8 Other Formats: DVD widescreen , Theatrical Average Customer Review: Based on 33 reviews. Write a review . Amazon.com Sales Rank (VHS): 26,253 What's Your Advice? Is there an item you'd recommend instead of or in addition to this one? Let the world know! Enter the item's ASIN ( what's an ASIN? ) in the box below, select advice type, then click Submit. I recommend: in addition to this product instead of this product Editorial Reviews Amazon.com The titular center of the world is a matter of perspective in Wayne Wang's ( The Joy Luck Club , Smoke ) notorious, explicit drama of emotional isolation and sexual commerce in the modern world. According to rich, apathetic cyber-geek Peter Sarsgaard ( Boys Don't Cry ), it's his home computer. Amateur rock & roll drummer and part-time stripper Molly Parker ( Wonderland ) deems it an erotic part of the female anatomy. Their "date" is merely a sexual contract that takes them to Las Vegas, a place as phony and impersonal as their so-called romance. "You know it's just an act, right?" she reminds him between her slinky bump-and-grind striptease shows and their sweaty sexual gymnastics. The Internet makes a great metaphor for modern social alienation, with its impersonal communication and virtual sex, but there's not much else new in this familiar story other than the erotic content. Shot on dimly lit, high-definition video, the gray, washed palette sucks the glamour and titillation right out of the spectacle, turning it into an empty, soulless exercise in physical sensation and self delusion--appropriate to this story of lonely souls unable to break through their own isolation. --Sean Axmaker --This text refers to the DVD edition. Spotlight Reviews (what's this) Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. 36 of 40 people found the following review helpful: A dialog heavy film about sex and love , December 23, 2001 Reviewer: Nick Gonnella (see more about me) Borrowing a part of it's plot from 'Indecent Proposal', 'The Center Of The World' manages to be a sexually charged, and erotic film, one that may surprise some viewers because it was an American made movie. The deal is simple...Richard, a computer genius (Peter Sarsgaard) offers Florence, a struggling musician/stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to spend the weekend with him in Vegas, but before she says yes he must agree to her terms...no kissing, only meeting between the hours of 10pm and 2am, not getting personal and absolutely no falling in love. With these rules laid out in front of him Richard agrees even though he plans on making her love him. The story of Richard and Flo unfolds slowly, but as the characters are developed the viewer realizes the pair are searching for the same thing...love. Molly Parker gives an intimate performances of a woman looking to find herself, and get past her fear of intimacy, and Peter Sarsgaard does a great job as Richard, an empty young man looking to make his life complete. Although sexually explicit in spots (the lollipop scene must be seen to be believed) 'The Center Of The World' never becomes cheap or porno-ish. And bravo to Ms. Parker and Mr. Sarsgaard for being brave enough to take on roles that required them to be fully nude in several scenes. Anyone looking for a sex movie should look elsewhere, for the power of this film lies in it's two main characters. Those looking an artsy/erotic movie will enjoy this. Nick Gonnella --This text refers to the DVD edition . Was this review helpful to you? 11 of 14 people found the following review helpful: Fear and Screwing in Las Vegas (plus love?) , June 9, 2001 Reviewer: A viewer from Pacific Grove, CA USA This film is an awesomely accurate depiction of an aspect of the struggle that all men and women living in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century face. The issues are money, sex, violence, power, intimacy, objectification, high technology, isolation, fantasy, reality.....well I could go on and on. On the surface, an isolated, rich computer geek who spends his free time watching internet sex, financial reports, and video games meets a stripper who definitely knows how to do her job well, is struggling financially and is a drummer in a rock band. They strike a business deal, but it's very sweet IMHO to watch their defenses crumble and the real human beings emerge....to what degree......you'll have to decide for yourself. Even if most of us don't have exactly the lives of the two main characters, we are confronted with the situations they face daily. In that respect, it's a contemporary parable. I think everyone should see this film, but I already know that a good percentage of you will disagree:-). --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition . Was this review helpful to you? All Customer Reviews Avg. Customer Review: Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. 3 of 7 people found the following review helpful: Pointless titilation , December 28, 2002 Reviewer: David Owen Robinson (see more about me) from Oakland, CA USA This is a really awful movie. The characters are one-dimensional so it's hard to care about this bunch of loosers. There is no significant plot development (when a third character appears there's a brief hope that there might be something of interest, but she soon leaves the script) so it's hard to sustain attention. The production values would earn a "C" in film school--instead of a "gritty, reality" feel, you end up saying: "I could have made a better movie myself." Avoid it. --This text refers to the DVD edition . Was this review helpful to you? 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Should be even bolder , December 24, 2002 Reviewer: A viewer from Newton, MA United States A terrific love story--damaged to some extent by the disinclination to explore the more optimistic possibilities of the realationship. An experience that torrid cannot be punctual--though the chosen ending suggests (pace the directors comments) some hope. (see alternative endings in DVD version) I hesitate to say this in view of the explicit nature of the film, but I contend that it could have pushed the line further. Molly Parker takes real risks in this film but I think she should have pushed harder. I believe that well crafted direction of a great deal of frank sexuality and powerful unsimulated "pornographic" forms of sexual intercourse would not have degraded this movie but illuminated it. Here real sex is would be an appropriate trope for the intensity of the characters transaction. I also feel the film could have been longer and more fleshed out. There are certain nuances and plot explorations that need work. Finally oddly enough I think this film should have a happy ending. One cannot walk away from such a transforming encounter and go on as before. The characters have a future ahead of them. Was this review helpful to you? See all customer reviews... Customers who bought videos directed by Wayne Wang also bought videos by these directors: Jim Jarmusch Ang Lee Yimou Zhang David Cronenberg Steven Soderbergh Explore similar directors So You'd Like To... Appreciate Modern FILM NOIR : by Glenn A. Buttkus , Actor, Movie-Buff, Teacher Listmania! 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