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The World(世界)

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China, Japan, France · 2004
2h 23m
Director Jia Zhangke
Starring Zhao Tao, Cheng Taishen, Jue Jing, Jiang Zhongwei
Genre Drama

A young dancer and her security-guard boyfriend try to salvage their struggling relationship while working at World Park, a theme park where visitors can interact with famous international monuments without ever leaving the Beijing suburbs.

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What are people saying?

What are critics saying?

70

Variety by David Rooney

While the film feels overlong at two hours 20 minutes, there's a seductive stillness to its enveloping mood.

80

Village Voice by Dennis Lim

On a first viewing, the movie seemed a dilution of the formal strategies Jia had perfected-at once less dispassionate and less empathetic. After a repeat viewing, it still strikes me as Jia's fourth-best film (that it's one of the year's best says plenty about the level at which he's working), but it's more apparent that The Worl d's muffled emotional impact should be understood as a function of its setting.

80

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

Maverick Chinese director Jia Zhangke examines the rapidly changing face of China as its economy edges further toward a modified form of market capitalism with yet another complex, multicharacter masterpiece.

70

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

Loosely constructed, The World drifts along pleasantly for much of its two-and-a-half-hour running time. Mr. Jia has a terrific eye and an almost sculptural sense of film space (especially in close quarters), and he brings texture and density to even the most nondescript rooms.

50

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

The World's dull weave of frustrated romances and worker exploitation is far too obvious, and Jia can only relieve the tedium so many times.

63

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Jia's message is that globalization has failed to help the Chinese masses. We hear you, dude, but did you really need 143 minutes to get your point across?

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