The Center of the World

Wayne Wang's graphically frank movie about the intersection of sex and commerce is about as titillating as a lap dancer dressed in a snowsuit. Wang's “Last Tango in Las Vegas” is full of ideas -- some of them provocative -- but his digitally shot pas de deux is bereft of narrative development. His two central characters are in search of a story, a good time, or any simple reason to be. Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don't Cry) plays a suddenly wealthy dot-com millionaire who believes his computer screen to be the center of the universe. He's young and good-looking, but seems believably nerdy enough that he could have come into $20 million without having a clue as to how it happened. He convinces a stripper/punk rock drummer named Florence (Parker) to come to Vegas with him for the weekend for $10,000. She's curious enough to agree, although she sets some stipulations, and whether these will remain intact by the end of the weekend is the movie's only real narrative thread. The opulent gloss of the Vegas backdrop offers thematic sustenance to the idea of two emotionally remote people doing incredibly intimate things that require no intimacy whatsoever. Sarsgaard and Parker are brilliantly brave in their performances (Canada's Parker had few taboos left to bust ever since she came into wide notice a few years ago with her portrayal of a necrophiliac in Kissed). Gugino is also good in a small role as a friend of Florence's, and, if nothing else, proves her acting range covers the full gamut from mother to whore by her concurrent appearances in Spy Kids and this. Instead of eliciting drama from the actors and events, Wang instead chooses to let his camera do the acting. The idea of using digital camerawork to shoot pornographic acts is an interesting one as it allows closer and more flexible vantage points, and perhaps, the illusion of home moviemaking. In reality, however, it just provides grainier, less “artful”-looking shots and images, and adds to the film's overall de-eroticized effect. Wang also adds in a smorgasbord of experimental formal effects, noticeably playing with the film's color saturation and temporal structure, among other things. Throughout his career, Wang has gone back and forth between making challenging independent works and more mainstream studio projects. Since his last film was the mother/daughter drama Anywhere But Here starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman, the arthouse erotica of The Center of the World should come as little surprise. Wang also called on former collaborator Paul Auster (Smoke, Blue in the Face) and filmmaker/performance artist/former exotic dancer Miranda July to help with the development of this story. Ultimately, The Center of the World comes off as a collaborative sketchbook, all thought process but little payoff. Instead of accepting the MPAA's NC-17 rating which would have prevented them from advertising in most newspapers, Artisan Entertainment has decided to release this picture without a rating (the same tactic the company used last year for Requiem for a Dream). However, don't let the lack of a rating lull anyone into thinking that The Center of the World is anything but adult entertainment. The movie's actions and ideas are definitely mature. Adults may discover, however, that when they get to the center of this particular world, they find no real there there.