The World

Released Jan 3, 1991

2h 20m

Drama

List

72%

Tomatometer

46 Reviews

65%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

At the Beijing World Park, a theme park that displays small versions of famous world monuments, one of the performers, Tao (Zhao Tao), is dating a guard named Taisheng (Taisheng Chen). However, they have a difficult bond, full of jealousy and miscommunication. While Tao forms friendships with other performers, Taisheng develops a fascination with Qun (Yi-qun Wang), a woman trying to join her husband in France. Despite their differences, Tao and Taisheng attempt to continue their relationship.

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Critics Consensus

Though perhaps too slowly paced and long, The World offers an intriguing glimpse into China's modernization and the growing ennui of some of its people.

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Richard Brody

New Yorker

Jia's tenderness for his characters is infused with a quiet rage: as the wide-screen views freeze them in a confining emptiness, dead zones of action and dialogue suggest a land where imagination itself has been suppressed.

May 18, 2020

Full Review

Marrit Ingman

Austin Chronicle

Rated: 4/5

Jan 15, 2006

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Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

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.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 14, 2005

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

Has the kind of setting that would make the Surrealists weep with joy and envy.

Rated: 9/10

May 13, 2020

Full Review

Yasmin Shehab

Daily News Egypt

This isn't a tragedy, this is life as it is, with all its beauty and grimness intact.

Mar 14, 2018

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Gives one a rough idea about the Chinese Dream through its modern day landscape and relating the new China to the hopes and aspirations of its young citizens.

Rated: B+

Sep 12, 2008

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Audience Member

O que resta a essas personagens, e talvez a nós cidadãos do mundo globalizado, é tocar da melhor maneira possível o seu caminho irresoluto e limitado, cujo maior regozijo é o escape ilusório proporcionado pelas imagens do kitsh da globalização. Leia mais: http://cinema-mon-amour31.webnode.com/news/o-mundo-shijie-de-zhang-ke-jia-china-2004-/

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Review In A Nutshell: I just couldn't connect with the characters or the problems they are going through. The film also is paced slowly, which I wouldn't have minded if its content delivered something care-worthy. Though I was pleased with the natural performances from the cast and the film's musical score was memorable. This is a film I certainly need to watch at least once more as I am aware that it has something important or worthy to offer.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Review In A Nutshell: I just couldn't connect with the characters or the problems they are going through. The film also is paced slowly, which I wouldn't have minded if its content delivered something care-worthy. Though I was pleased with the natural performances from the cast and the film's musical score was memorable. This is a film I certainly need to watch at least once more as I am aware that it has something important or worthy to offer.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

dave j

Tuesday, April 8, 2014 (2004) The World (In Mandarin with English subtitles) DRAMA/ SOCIAL COMMENTARY Written and directed by Zhangke Jia it's called "The World" because of it's a reference to one of China's or Beijing's most visited parks among it's own people, full of popular monument replicas of famous statuettes of other cities such as "The Great Pyramids", "The Tower Of Pisa" and "New York City's The Twin Towers". But along with those monuments are the people who work there which is where the story focuses on, are the relationships regarding a small group of people who work at the park. Had to watch the first hour of this movie again to absorb it's situations as well as it's customs, since I do not live there. Which almost seemed like a social commentary film about the people of China who are not granted exited visas to travel anywhere else around the world, resorting most of them to them to visit the them parks where visitors could see those monuments other vacationists can experience. The closest thing they can ever come to seeing actual monuments of "The World" is when they're working and managing the park, for much of them never make enough money to go abroad, nor do they ever find the time to travel, they're working so much. Or that the closest thing much of the Chinese population can ever go to see some of the famous parks that exist throughout the world, is when they go to visit fake looking ones from "The World" park. For a point was made, when one of the workers had said that they're probably more Chinese people who had never been to a jet airline plane before, which can be a direct referral to the Chinese people living in villages- and not just the cities. They're times the film felt long, showcasing Chinese traditions mixed with current customs which the characters were still using their hands to clean their clothes as opposed to using washing machines despite updated in their technology devices like their cell phones. Strong 3 out of 4 stars

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Friendship and romance backstage at the Beijing theme park THE WORLD. There's some good stuff here but it has difficulty emerging from the rather monotone presentation. The opening scene and protagonist Tao 's friendship with a Russian performer are the highlights.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

a slow-paced sort-of-early- masterpiece by a really great director. a truly minimalist masterwork! looking forward to A TOUCH OF SIN!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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Zhang-Ke Jia

Director

Tao Zhao

Tao

Taisheng Chen

Taisheng

Jing Jue

Wei

Xiang Wan

Youyou

Liu Juan

Yanqing

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Synopsis

At the Beijing World Park, a theme park that displays small versions of famous world monuments, one of the performers, Tao (Zhao Tao), is dating a guard named Taisheng (Taisheng Chen). However, they have a difficult bond, full of jealousy and miscommunication. While Tao forms friendships with other performers, Taisheng develops a fascination with Qun (Yi-qun Wang), a woman trying to join her husband in France. Despite their differences, Tao and Taisheng attempt to continue their relationship.

Director: Zhang-Ke Jia
Screenwriter: Zhang-Ke Jia
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
Production Co: Office Kitano
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 3, 1991, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jul 1, 2005
Release Date (DVD): Feb 14, 2006
Box Office (Gross USA): $3.6K
Runtime: 2h 20m