18+ ScreenShots

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Desire carries two young people into deep, uncharted emotional waters in Wayne Wang’s candid drama “The Center of the World.” A story of a straightforward sexual arrangement that disintegrates into emotional chaos, the film explores what happens when our fantasies of pleasure, power and love collide with the messy, unpredictable reality of human feelings.A couple checks into a suite in Las Vegas. In flashbacks we see that he’s a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot.com millionaire, she’s a lap dancer at a club. He’s depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas, and she accepts with conditions: four hours per night of erotic play, and no penetration. During the days in Vegas, they get to know each other, have fun, meet a friend of hers; at night, at least after the first night, things seem to get complicated. Is mutual attraction stirring? Will they play by their rules? Can it be about more than money?

The Center of the World is an American film directed by Wayne Wang, which was digitally shot and released in 2001. It stars Peter Sarsgaard as a Dot-com millionaire who hires a drummer/stripper (Molly Parker) to stay with him in Las Vegas for three days for US$10,000. The film was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.