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The highly gifted Chinese filmmaker, Jia Zhang-ke's film The World once again establishes the central focus of disconnected modern youth. However, The World is more complex and ultimately a film of globalization and consumer culture. Using a large-scaled, epic amusement park as the primary metaphor to the films theme, the film is a sprawling visual achievement. This is Jia's fourth feature film, but the first of which is non-independent, as it's produced by both Shanghai and Hong Kong production companies. Jia has such a wonderful cinematic skill as the film gracefully flows with absolute beauty. The World examines how with the growth of globalization, comes the potential loss of identity and expression of human emotions. As in Hou Hsiao-Hsien's 2001 film, Millennium Mambo, we observe the characters as isolated from communication (with the exception of a "quick-access" way of modern living via cell phones, video games, etc). The World is such a glorious film to experience, and it's one the viewer will remember and ponder for quite some time afterwards. Through it's dazzlingly visual atmosphere, The World has an absorbing emotion effect. It's a film to reflect upon and think about, all while being mesmerized by the sheer creativity and brilliance of how it's made.
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