The World

Unlike Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke's best-known work, 2000's Platform, which took place in a remote rural district, The World is set in and around an amusement park located on the outskirts of Beijing that houses Las Vegas-style models of the world's most famous landmarks. But the themes of the two films are similar, because The World serves up a metaphor for the impact of globalization on traditional Chinese culture, just as Platform dealt with the effects of the government's capitalistic policies on the communist way of life. The story unfolds through a collage of episodes involving the park workers and their friends: some are darkly humorous (a guide points out that the model of Manhattan still boasts the World Trade Towers; characters who long to leave China find themselves on an airliner that goes nowhere), while others are poignant (a construction worker dies in an accident and his aged parents, who come to claim the body, are bewildered by the larger world they've never seen). Jia's rambling style—marked by interconnected storylines, frequent shifts of character and mood, deliberate pacing, handheld camerawork, and occasional animated transitions—will frustrate viewers looking for a clear narrative, but if you're willing to accept an idiosyncratic style that's like a mixture of Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Altman, you may find this unconventional film to be intensely moving. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a video interview with critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, notes on the characters, an essay about the actual World Park, and printed excerpts from an interview with Jia. Bottom line: a small but solid extras package for a thought-provoking film.] (F. Swietek)