The World

Jia Zhangke’s ravishing epic opens in a rush of color and sound. Here’s young China in action, optimistic and bursting with life as the sequin and feather-bedecked performers of the "Five Continents" company take the stage of the real-life World Park. As the ads say, "See the world without ever leaving Beijing," and 106 of the globe’s major sites are recreated in miniature, like a third-scale Eiffel Tower and mini-Lower Manhattan—complete with Twin Towers. Doll-faced Tao (Tao Zhao), ever-present cell phone in hand, is at the center of the maelstrom. Her boyfriend, Taisheng (Taisheng Chen), is a security guard with a sideline in fake IDs (and infidelity). When some Russian guest workers join the troupe, Tao’s increasingly insular world briefly expands. - Amazon.com