Watch Center of My World For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Better Late Then Never

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Another film that ruins a good idea and materials. There are too many useless scenes / dialogues. For instance, who cares about whether the co-lead actor loves spaghetti or any other dish? Or seeing trivial actions such as walking, bicycling etc.. No one watches this movie for that purpose.A lot of the scenes appear to exist only to justify and reach the nearly 2-hour film duration. But quantity is not quality.The narrative process is often confusing and makes us wonder what the message is supposed to be. There is a lot of back and forth between scenes set at different times / showing totally different things, and the link between the two is unclear.The co-lead (the non-manly one) does not appear empathic and friendly. When negative things happen to him, not only did I not feel sorry, but quite the opposite. This should not be the case...Filming is also not that great, as often, the camera is slightly shaking. The focus on the characters' face to see their expressions is too often limited and short, preventing us from really connecting to the characters and understanding their feelings.On the positive side, the co-lead (the manly guy) is really great to look at.

The German film Die Mitte der Welt was shown in the U.S. with the translated title Center of My World (2016). It was written and directed by Jakob M. Erwa.This movie can be interpreted in many ways. It's a coming of age movie, a gay love story, and a melodrama with many twists and turns. Louis Hofmann plays Phil, a gay young man, who is looking for a boyfriend-lover-partner. Jannik Schümann plays Nicholas, who is handsome and athletic, and becomes Phil's boyfriend and lover, if not partner. Both Hofman and Schümann are fine young actors, and they do admirable work in this film. Also involved in the plot is Phil's twin sister, who may or may not have some special powers. For me, however, the acting honors go to Sabine Timoteo as Glass, Phil's mother. She brings men into the family, and then sends them away, with devastating results to her children. Timoteo brings acting skills that allow her to inhabit this role. You can't take your eyes off her as she lives--and messes up--her life and the lives of others. She always tells just enough of the story to make you aware that she knows more than she tells.The film will work well on the small screen.

This film focuses on Phil, a teenager who returns to his (Austrian? German?) hometown after spending time away at a summer camp and is dismayed to find that in his absence something has happened to cause his twin sister Dianne and tediously non-conformist mother Glass to stop speaking to each other. But distracting him from that mystery is Nicholas, the sporty, handsome new classmate who quickly invites Phil to join him in the changing room showers...This feels like two separate films. On the one hand we have the dark, threatening tone of the segments involving the mystery of Glass and Dianne's falling out; on the other the (at first) light-hearted romance (whose most amusing moment comes when Phil's two jolly, middle-aged lesbian friends congratulate him for having sex rather than, eg, counselling against carnal activity in public showers). As a result of this contradiction in tone the viewer at times wonders what kind of film he's watching. But there is no denying that within themselves the plots are well-handled: clues about the Glass/Dianne troubles are there for the taking (although this viewer missed the major one!); while the scenes between Phil and Nicholas are at times amusing and at other times pleasingly erotic.As for the acting, lead Louis Hofmann makes Phil effeminate without being politically incorrect, and Jannik Schümann does what he can with the thankless role of seductive, muscular eye candy, treating Phil with thoughtless indifference (when not locking lips). Meanwhile, in the major 'adult' role, Sabine Timoteo makes the somewhat irresponsible and self-indulgent Glass a lot more likable than I should have found her!

What does cinema mean to you? To me it means emotions and stories, told with moving images, with music and with words. And, in my opinion, for cinema to be at its greatest it needs to brave and vulnerable.Center of My World is exactly that: brave and vulnerable. And intimate. And true.Its is the story of Phil, a standard teenager, who is just a little gayer than the rest. But him being gay is really not an important part of the story.He struggles with his family, with deeply hidden secrets of the past and their effects in the present, which may break his family apart. And he falls in love for the first time. That's really it.And while watching this in the cinema some people laughed at the film. Because it shows how love is, unironically and over-the-top. It dives deep into Phil's emotions and shows us not only the center of his world, but maybe even the center of THE world (hence the original German title "The Center of the World"). And most people can not let themselves dive into these depths.And if you want to experience this small gem of a movie, you have to make yourself vulnerable, too. Leave your irony at home, just watch this movie as you are - naked and vulnerable.Then you may see what cinema can do, what cinema is for.