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The World (film)
Encyclopedia
The World is a 2004
Chinese
film
written and directed
by Jia Zhangke
. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao
, as well as Chen Taisheng, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing
, Beijing World Park
, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The World was Jia's first to gain official approval from the Chinese government. Additionally, it was the first of his films to take place outside of his home province of Shanxi
.
The World was a joint-production by Jia Zhangke's own Xstream Pictures
, Japan's Office Kitano
, and France's Lumen Films. It received additional financial support from the Shanghai Film Studio
and several Japanese corporations including Bandai Visual
and Tokyo FM
, among others.
The film premiered in competition at the 2004 Venice Film Festival
on September 4, 2004, but failed to win the coveted Golden Lion
, the festival's top award, which ultimately went to Mike Leigh
's drama Vera Drake
, but which Jia would win two years later with Still Life. The World also premiered in 2004 at the New York Film Festival
and would go on to receive a limited release in New York City the following year on July 1, 2005.
: a performer, Tao (played by actress Zhao Tao
), and Taisheng (Chen Taisheng), a security guard and Tao's boyfriend. As the film begins, Tao is visited by her ex-boyfriend, who is on his way to Ulan Batur. Taisheng meets Tao and the ex-boyfriend at a small diner and insists on driving him to the Beijing Railway Station
. From this awkward introduction, the relationship between Tao and Taisheng grows increasingly strained. Taisheng, frustrated that Tao refuses to have sex with him, is also busy with fellow migrants from his home province of Shanxi
. One, Chen Zhijun nicknamed "Little Sister," is a childhood friend of Taisheng's and comes to him looking for a job. Taisheng manages to put him in touch with someone and he eventually finds work as a construction worker
.
Tao, meanwhile, meets one of World Park's Russian performers, a woman named Anna. Though Anna speaks no Chinese, and Tao no Russian, the two become unlikely friends. Anna confesses to Tao that she will quit her job and implies that she must prostitute
herself in order to make enough money to see her sister, also in Ulan Batur (Tao, realizing only that Anna is upset, tries to comfort her). Later, while at a karaoke
bar, Tao runs into Anna and confirms that Anna has indeed become a prostitute. Anna runs away and Tao cries, neither quite knowing what the other is thinking. As for Taisheng, he soon proves to possess a roving eye. When one of his associates asks him to drive a woman, Qun, to Taiyuan
so that she can deal with her gambling brother, Taisheng agrees. Taisheng becomes enraptured with Qun shortly afterwards, and the two often meet at Qun's small clothing shop. There, Qun tells Taisheng about her husband, who years before had left China for France. Since then, she has tried with some difficulty to obtain a visa to join him. Though he pursues her, Qun rejects Taisheng's physical propositions.
Taisheng eventually convinces Tao to have sex with him, with Tao threatening that she will poison him if he ever betrays her. His life, however, quickly spirals out of control when "Little Sister" is killed in a construction accident. Sometime after the accidental death of Little Sister, Wei and Niu, two other performers at World Park, announce that they plan to wed, despite the fact that Niu is dangerously jealous and unstable. At the wedding, Tao discovers a text-message sent from Qun, who has at last received her visa, to Taisheng, saying that their meeting and relationship was destined. Believing that Taisheng has indeed betrayed her, Tao is devastated and cuts off contact with him while she house-sits for Wei and Niu. When Taisheng comes to visit her there, she ignores him. Sometime later, Taisheng and Tao have succumbed to the gas
leak, presumably in their friends' apartment. As the film fades to black, Taisheng's voice asks, "Are we dead?" "No," Tao's voice responds, "this is only the beginning."
, Jia decided to make a film about his impressions of Beijing as a world city, after a cousin back home asked him about life in a metropolitan environment. Jia, however, would not began writing the screenplay until after the release of his next film Unknown Pleasures
, in 2003 during the SARS outbreak. The screenplay took approximately a year to write, over which time the story slowly changed, such that it became harder to distinguish the fact that it took place in Beijing, and the focus of the setting shifted to that of any large city with many migrants in it. Filming of The World took place on location at the actual Beijing World Park
, as well as at an older but similar park, Window of the World
, that sometimes served as a stand-in and is located in the southern city of Shenzhen
.
, sound designer Zhang Yang, and production houses Office Kitano
and Lumen Films. Also returning was editor Kong Jinglei, who had worked with Jia on Platform and would later work with Jia on Still Life and 24 City
. With his core team in place, Jia also brought in several new young assistant directors.
Unlike Unknown Pleasures, which only had diegetic music, music was an important feature to The World, which featured snippets of the dance performances that were the park's centerpieces. Music played such an important role that the film was almost considered by some to be a musical
. Jia brought in the Taiwanese composer Lim Giong
, who had previously worked with Hou Hsiao-hsien
, to score the film using primarily electronic music
. As stated by Jia, the artifice of the electronic music was to "signify the real emptiness of the lives of Tao and her friends. Life’s heaviness fades when confronted by the silky lightness of dance and music." Jia then tied the music to the animated sequences of the film, wherein Tao's inner thoughts were given life, all to create an "Asian digital life."
In the cast, Jia brought back Zhao Tao
, who had starred in the Jia's previous ensemble pieces Unknown Pleasures and Platform, and would go on to star in both Still Life and 24 City. As usual, Jia also had a small part for his friend and classmate Wang Hongwei
, who has been in nearly all of Jia's films since his starring role in the short film Xiao Shan Going Home
in 1995, filmed while both were still attending the Beijing Film Academy
.
and Metacritic
gave the film rating of 71% (with 30 positive reviews out of 42) and a score of 81 (derived from 23 reviews), respectively. American critics found the film to be a stunning portrayal of the disaffected Chinese society navigating modern urban life with Entertainment Weekly calling the film "a glorious achievement", and The Chicago Reader hailing it as "a tragic, visionary work." Manohla Dargis
of The New York Times wrote, after The World's premiere at the New York Film Festival
, that the film was a "quietly despairing vision of contemporary China with an almost ethnographic attention to detail" but perhaps had an overly "cavalier attitude to narrative momentum." Variety also gave it a positive review, noting that the film "confirms [Jia] as one of the most interesting and insightful chroniclers of the new China." Criticisms of the film generally revolved around the idea that the film was overly-long and meandering (a common criticism of Jia's films, see, for example, Unknown Pleasures
). Variety mentioned the overly-long complaint in its review, as did the review by Roger Ebert
in the Chicago Sun Times, (stating that "either you will fall into its rhythm, or you will grow restless"). Dargis, however, had fewer problems with the film's pace and instead felt that Jia's vision was overly insular, "mesmerized" by World Park with only fleeting glimpses of the city beyond.
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
Chinese
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
written and directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke
Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....
. Starring Jia's muse, Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
, as well as Chen Taisheng, The World was filmed on and around an actual theme park located in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Beijing World Park
Beijing World Park
Beijing World Park is a theme park that attempts to give visitors the chance to see the world without having to leave Beijing. The park covers 46.7 hectares and is located in the southwestern Fengtai District of Beijing. It is about 17 km from Tiananmen, the City center, and 40 km from...
, which recreates world landmarks at reduced scales for Chinese tourists. The World was Jia's first to gain official approval from the Chinese government. Additionally, it was the first of his films to take place outside of his home province of Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
.
The World was a joint-production by Jia Zhangke's own Xstream Pictures
Xstream Pictures
Xstream Pictures is a Chinese production company based out of Beijing and Hong Kong that was founded by filmmakers Jia Zhangke, Chow Keung, and Yu Lik-wai. Formed in 2003, the company's first production was Jia's own The World...
, Japan's Office Kitano
Office Kitano
Office Kitano is a Japanese talent management and film production company founded and managed by Takeshi Kitano. It launched the Tokyo Filmex in 2000....
, and France's Lumen Films. It received additional financial support from the Shanghai Film Studio
Shanghai Film Studio
Shanghai Film Studio is the film division of the Shanghai Film Group Corporation in Shanghai, China. It is responsible for the production of Chinese films and TV programs.-History:...
and several Japanese corporations including Bandai Visual
Bandai Visual
, is a Japanese anime, film production and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai Co., Ltd. and a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings, Inc., which is based in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Since the reorganisation of Namco Bandai Holdings in 2006, Bandai Visual now heads the group's Visual and...
and Tokyo FM
Tokyo FM
Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co., Ltd. is a radio station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flagship station of the Japan FM Network .-Program:*Countdown Station** DHC Countdown jp** cosmo Pops Best 10...
, among others.
The film premiered in competition at the 2004 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
on September 4, 2004, but failed to win the coveted Golden Lion
Golden Lion
Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...
, the festival's top award, which ultimately went to Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
's drama Vera Drake
Vera Drake
Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions...
, but which Jia would win two years later with Still Life. The World also premiered in 2004 at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
and would go on to receive a limited release in New York City the following year on July 1, 2005.
Synopsis
The World tells the story of two workers at Beijing World ParkBeijing World Park
Beijing World Park is a theme park that attempts to give visitors the chance to see the world without having to leave Beijing. The park covers 46.7 hectares and is located in the southwestern Fengtai District of Beijing. It is about 17 km from Tiananmen, the City center, and 40 km from...
: a performer, Tao (played by actress Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
), and Taisheng (Chen Taisheng), a security guard and Tao's boyfriend. As the film begins, Tao is visited by her ex-boyfriend, who is on his way to Ulan Batur. Taisheng meets Tao and the ex-boyfriend at a small diner and insists on driving him to the Beijing Railway Station
Beijing railway station
Beijing Railway Station is one of Beijing's railway stations, opened in the 1950s, as can be seen from its architecture . It is located in the city's central location, just next to Jianguomen, and is within the confines of the city's 2nd Ring Road...
. From this awkward introduction, the relationship between Tao and Taisheng grows increasingly strained. Taisheng, frustrated that Tao refuses to have sex with him, is also busy with fellow migrants from his home province of Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
. One, Chen Zhijun nicknamed "Little Sister," is a childhood friend of Taisheng's and comes to him looking for a job. Taisheng manages to put him in touch with someone and he eventually finds work as a construction worker
Construction worker
A construction worker or builder is a professional, tradesman, or labourer who directly participates in the physical construction of infrastructure.-Construction trades:...
.
Tao, meanwhile, meets one of World Park's Russian performers, a woman named Anna. Though Anna speaks no Chinese, and Tao no Russian, the two become unlikely friends. Anna confesses to Tao that she will quit her job and implies that she must prostitute
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
herself in order to make enough money to see her sister, also in Ulan Batur (Tao, realizing only that Anna is upset, tries to comfort her). Later, while at a karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
bar, Tao runs into Anna and confirms that Anna has indeed become a prostitute. Anna runs away and Tao cries, neither quite knowing what the other is thinking. As for Taisheng, he soon proves to possess a roving eye. When one of his associates asks him to drive a woman, Qun, to Taiyuan
Taiyuan
Taiyuan is the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in North China. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 4,201,591 inhabitants on 6959 km² whom 3,212,500 are urban on 1,460 km². The name of the city literally means "Great Plains", referring to the location where the Fen River...
so that she can deal with her gambling brother, Taisheng agrees. Taisheng becomes enraptured with Qun shortly afterwards, and the two often meet at Qun's small clothing shop. There, Qun tells Taisheng about her husband, who years before had left China for France. Since then, she has tried with some difficulty to obtain a visa to join him. Though he pursues her, Qun rejects Taisheng's physical propositions.
Taisheng eventually convinces Tao to have sex with him, with Tao threatening that she will poison him if he ever betrays her. His life, however, quickly spirals out of control when "Little Sister" is killed in a construction accident. Sometime after the accidental death of Little Sister, Wei and Niu, two other performers at World Park, announce that they plan to wed, despite the fact that Niu is dangerously jealous and unstable. At the wedding, Tao discovers a text-message sent from Qun, who has at last received her visa, to Taisheng, saying that their meeting and relationship was destined. Believing that Taisheng has indeed betrayed her, Tao is devastated and cuts off contact with him while she house-sits for Wei and Niu. When Taisheng comes to visit her there, she ignores him. Sometime later, Taisheng and Tao have succumbed to the gas
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
leak, presumably in their friends' apartment. As the film fades to black, Taisheng's voice asks, "Are we dead?" "No," Tao's voice responds, "this is only the beginning."
Cast
- Zhao TaoZhao TaoZhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
as Tao, the film's heroine, a young woman and a performer at the Beijing World Park. - Chen Taisheng as Taisheng, a ShanxiShanxi' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
-native who has lived in Beijing for three years. Taisheng has become something of a fixture for Shanxi migrants who come to him looking for a place to work. - Jing Jue as Wei, one of Tao's fellow performers.
- Jiang Zhongwei as Niu, another performer and Wei's possessive and paranoid boyfriend.
- Wang Yiqun as Qun, a native of WenzhouWenzhouWenzhou is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. The area under its jurisdiction, which includes two satellite cities and six counties, had a population of 9,122,100 as of 2010....
, Qun operates a clothing shop. - Wang HongweiWang HongweiWang Hongwei is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang starring in Jia's breakthrough short film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995...
as Sanlai, a friend of Taisheng's and another Shanxi native. - Ji Shuai as Erxiao, a Shanxi native and Taisheng's cousin, whom Taisheng has gotten a job as a security guard at World Park. Erxiao is later fired for stealing from the performers while they are on stage.
- Xiang Wan as Youyou, another performer, Youyou carries on an affair with the park's director and parleys it into a promotion to troupe director.
- Alla Shcherbakova as Anna, a Russian immigrant and performer at World Park.
- Han SanmingHan SanmingHan Sanming is a Chinese actor, known for his roles in films directed by Jia Zhangke. It is believed that he is related to to the director. Initially, he was seen only in small roles or cameos, but was then cast in one of the lead roles, as a coal miner looking for his wife and daughter, in...
as Sanming, a relative of Little Sister who comes to Beijing after his death to help his family collect compensation. Sanming reappears in Still Life, Jia's follow-up to The World, this time as a lead actor.
Production
The film's nascence began after Jia had lived in Beijing for several years in 2000. After two films based in his native province of ShanxiShanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
, Jia decided to make a film about his impressions of Beijing as a world city, after a cousin back home asked him about life in a metropolitan environment. Jia, however, would not began writing the screenplay until after the release of his next film Unknown Pleasures
Unknown Pleasures (film)
Unknown Pleasures is a 2002 Chinese film directed by Jia Zhangke, starring Wu Qiong, Zhao Weiwei and Zhao Tao as three disaffected youths living in Datong in 2001, part of the new "Birth Control" generation...
, in 2003 during the SARS outbreak. The screenplay took approximately a year to write, over which time the story slowly changed, such that it became harder to distinguish the fact that it took place in Beijing, and the focus of the setting shifted to that of any large city with many migrants in it. Filming of The World took place on location at the actual Beijing World Park
Beijing World Park
Beijing World Park is a theme park that attempts to give visitors the chance to see the world without having to leave Beijing. The park covers 46.7 hectares and is located in the southwestern Fengtai District of Beijing. It is about 17 km from Tiananmen, the City center, and 40 km from...
, as well as at an older but similar park, Window of the World
Window of the World
The Window of the World is a theme park located in the western part of the city of Shenzhen in the People's Republic of China. It has about 130 reproductions of some of the most famous tourist attractions in the world squeezed into 48 hectares...
, that sometimes served as a stand-in and is located in the southern city of Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
.
Legitimization
As Jia Zhangke's first film made with the consent of the Chinese Film Bureau, many felt that Jia's hand would be unduly restricted by Communist bureaucrats. As it turned out, Jia claimed that the main impact of government approval was the ability to screen abroad and at home without major obstacles; Jia stated that, Jia attributed the loosening of restrictions as part of the Film Bureau's overall liberalization and acceptance of so-called "outside directors." Outside observers agreed with Jia's assessment, dismissing claims that Jia had compromised his principles and "sold out." One definite result of working within the system, however, was that the film became much easier to produce, as Jia no longer had to worry about interference from the central government or from local officials.Creative team
Jia Zhangke's's primary creative team once again returned for The World, including cinematographer Yu Lik-waiYu Lik-wai
Yu Lik-wai is a Hong Kong cinematographer, film director, and occasional film producer. Born in Hong Kong, Yu was educated at Belgium's INSAS where he graduated with a degree in cinematography in 1994...
, sound designer Zhang Yang, and production houses Office Kitano
Office Kitano
Office Kitano is a Japanese talent management and film production company founded and managed by Takeshi Kitano. It launched the Tokyo Filmex in 2000....
and Lumen Films. Also returning was editor Kong Jinglei, who had worked with Jia on Platform and would later work with Jia on Still Life and 24 City
24 City
24 City is a 2008 film directed and co-written by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex...
. With his core team in place, Jia also brought in several new young assistant directors.
Unlike Unknown Pleasures, which only had diegetic music, music was an important feature to The World, which featured snippets of the dance performances that were the park's centerpieces. Music played such an important role that the film was almost considered by some to be a musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
. Jia brought in the Taiwanese composer Lim Giong
Lim Giong
Lim Giong is a musician, artist, DJ, composer, songwriter, music producer, music director and also an actor.Now, he is a leading figure on the Taiwanese experimental electronic music scene....
, who had previously worked with Hou Hsiao-hsien
Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Hou Hsiao-Hsien is an award-winning film director and a leading figure of Taiwan's New Wave cinema movement.-Biography:...
, to score the film using primarily electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. As stated by Jia, the artifice of the electronic music was to "signify the real emptiness of the lives of Tao and her friends. Life’s heaviness fades when confronted by the silky lightness of dance and music." Jia then tied the music to the animated sequences of the film, wherein Tao's inner thoughts were given life, all to create an "Asian digital life."
In the cast, Jia brought back Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao
Zhao Tao is a Chinese actress who has starred in several films by Jia Zhangke.-Biography:She was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which is also the hometown of the heroine in Still Life. As a child, she studied classical Chinese dance. In 1996, she enrolled in the folk dance department at Beijing Dance...
, who had starred in the Jia's previous ensemble pieces Unknown Pleasures and Platform, and would go on to star in both Still Life and 24 City. As usual, Jia also had a small part for his friend and classmate Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei
Wang Hongwei is a Chinese actor. Wang is perhaps best known for his work with director Jia Zhangke. The two men were classmates at the Beijing Film Academy when they began their professional relationship, with Wang starring in Jia's breakthrough short film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995...
, who has been in nearly all of Jia's films since his starring role in the short film Xiao Shan Going Home
Xiao Shan Going Home
Xiao Shan Going Home is a Chinese short film directed by Jia Zhangke. The film, running around one hour in length, was made by Jia while he was attending the Beijing Film Academy and stars his friend, classmate, and now frequent collaborator, Wang Hongwei in the titular role.The film follows a...
in 1995, filmed while both were still attending the Beijing Film Academy
Beijing Film Academy
Beijing Film Academy is a coeducational state-run higher education institution in Beijing, China. The film school is the largest institution specialised in the tertiary education for film and television production in Asia...
.
Reception
Domestically, the film was apparently well-received among the government officials responsible for its smooth passage through the bureaucratic machine. Abroad, the film was even better received. Four years after its American release, the review aggregators Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the film rating of 71% (with 30 positive reviews out of 42) and a score of 81 (derived from 23 reviews), respectively. American critics found the film to be a stunning portrayal of the disaffected Chinese society navigating modern urban life with Entertainment Weekly calling the film "a glorious achievement", and The Chicago Reader hailing it as "a tragic, visionary work." Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of The New York Times wrote, after The World's premiere at the New York Film Festival
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
, that the film was a "quietly despairing vision of contemporary China with an almost ethnographic attention to detail" but perhaps had an overly "cavalier attitude to narrative momentum." Variety also gave it a positive review, noting that the film "confirms [Jia] as one of the most interesting and insightful chroniclers of the new China." Criticisms of the film generally revolved around the idea that the film was overly-long and meandering (a common criticism of Jia's films, see, for example, Unknown Pleasures
Unknown Pleasures (film)
Unknown Pleasures is a 2002 Chinese film directed by Jia Zhangke, starring Wu Qiong, Zhao Weiwei and Zhao Tao as three disaffected youths living in Datong in 2001, part of the new "Birth Control" generation...
). Variety mentioned the overly-long complaint in its review, as did the review by Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in the Chicago Sun Times, (stating that "either you will fall into its rhythm, or you will grow restless"). Dargis, however, had fewer problems with the film's pace and instead felt that Jia's vision was overly insular, "mesmerized" by World Park with only fleeting glimpses of the city beyond.
Top ten lists
Released in 2005 in the United States, The World appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of that year.- 1st – Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
- 2nd – Robert Koehler, VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
- 6th – Scott Foundas, LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
- 6th – J. Hoberman, Village Voice
- 6th – Andrew O'Hehir, SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
- 6th – Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
- 7th – Ella Taylor, LA WeeklyLA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
, tied with 20462046 (film)2046 is a 2004 Hong Kong film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. It is a loose sequel to the 1991 Hong Kong film Days of Being Wild and the 2000 Hong Kong film In the Mood for Love...
and Tropical MaladyTropical MaladyTropical Malady is a 2004 Thai romantic psychological drama film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It is a film in two segments – the first part a romance story about two homosexual men, and the second a mysterious tale about a soldier lost in the woods, bedeviled by the spirit of a shaman... - 10th – Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
- 10th – Dennis Lim, Village Voice, tied with Darwin's NightmareDarwin's NightmareDarwin's Nightmare is a 2004 French-Belgian-Austrian documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper, dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania. It premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for the 2006...
, MondovinoMondovinoMondovino is a 2004 documentary film on the impact of globalization on the world's different wine regions written and directed by American film maker Jonathan Nossiter...
, and ChainChain (film)Chain is a "narrative/documentary" film written and directed by Jem Cohen. The movie is about two women, a corporate executive and a young drifter whose lives are changed by the loss of regional identity due to the similarity of retail culture worldwide... - [Listed alphabetically] – Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor