An awesome aspect of the TLA Releasing DVDs of international films in which a confused and/or angsty teen boy in love with the boy next door is that these movies avoid the cliches of the Disneyfied Logo Channel versions of stories in which the lad with unrequited love has doe eyes and freshly scrubbed skin who gleefully (pun intended) gets the jock in the end (no pun intended) and is adored by all. The cast in the Releasing films typically look and behave more like the actual boy next door and just as often end up with the same heartbreak that everyone across the Kinsey Spectrum experiences.
This trend makes the Releasing October 10, 2017 DVD of the terrifically quirky 2016 German drama "Center of My World" an incredibly great surprise. Our narrator/emo teen is 16ish Phil, who tells us right off that he is like most quiet guys his age in that he enjoys reading and hanging out at home. Blonde and smooth Phil portrayor Louis Hoffmann would fit right in at Logo if his eyes and his smile were a little wider; his good looks, great humor, and caring nature would prompt many QBs to dump the head cheerleader and start playing for the other team.
Despite the aforementioned cliches and the Logo-style plot regarding the relationship with new boy in town Nicholas, "Center" is notable for retaining an edge that makes it more of a Grimm version of fully gay-themed "Perks of Being a Wallflower" or "Me, and Earl, and the Dying Girl" emo films than a Disneyfied version of such a story.
The following YouTube clip of a "World" trailer highlights the well-blended contrasts in the film; every scene of Phil with a beard made of candy sprinkles is met with a polar opposite image.
Phil first displays his full charm and wit when he describes his coerced three-weeks at language camp as being like someone who is allergic to cats spending that amount of time surrounded by felines. These early scenes also use stock footage, children's drawings, and other clever visuals to tell the story of Glass, who is the mother of Phil and twin sister Dianne, becoming pregnant without the benefit of marriage at 17 and leaving the baby daddy behind to move into an inherited "fairy tale castle."
Some of the most cute scenes have roughly six year-old Phil and Dianne trying to learn the identity of their father and hear their mother weave a fairy tale about him. Another notable scene on a similar theme has modern-day Phil once more using clever visuals to put his growing up in a house with two females and no permanent father figure into context.
Not very subtle symbolism also enters "Center" early in the film as Phil learns of a massive wind (rather than ice) storm that causes tremendous devastation while he is at camp. Any early sign that things have changed is that normally joined-at-that-hip Dianne is pleasant on their reunion but does not express an iota of the expected excitement on her reunion with her brother from the same mother.
Phil gets a much warm welcome from punkish outspoken fag hag Kat, who provides blatant foreshadowing by telling her BFF that aforementioned new boy Nicholas will be joining them in school. The response of Phil on first seeing his receptive Prince Charming is a cute aspect of this fairy tale about a prince and a princess living in a castle with a queen whose unconventional manner makes her the town outcast.
Additional cuteness with equally predictable foreshadowing has a roughly eight year-old Phil lose a snow globe with the most significance in a movie since its "Citizen Kane" counterpart on a chance encounter with a young Nicholas. Seeing the love in the eyes of Phil and the way cool response of Glass is adorable.
The fairy tale continues with Nicholas making the first overt move that advances the relationship from Phil admiring from not so afar to a gay teen fantasy encounter in the school locker room. This leads to our princes having to hide their love and have trysts in a "shed" in which many of us would happily live.
Some of the aforementioned edge enters the picture regarding the advice that Phil receives regarding telling Nicholas that he loves him. The voice of experience tells him that Nicholas not saying it back would hurt Phil and hearing those special words in reply would create doubt regarding if Nicholas is only providing that lip service to continue receiving a different form of that service from Phil. This reflects the larger issue related to any sexual relationship in which one person is in love and the other person primarily is in it to get some.
Those of us who have been on the wrong end of a lopsided relationship can relate to the rude awakening that Phil receives on witnessing his worst nightmare in the middle of an incredibly thoughtful gesture.
Even more Grimm-style darkness enters the picture regarding the developments in the Dianne B-story. The reveals near the end of "World" go beyond the believed ability of Dianne to communicate with domesticated and feral creatures. Learning the truth behind a tragedy in the past of our characters and how that story comes out is pure psychological thriller. An actual sleeping beauty being an element enhances the fairy tale vibe.
Disney and Logo do re-enter the picture in the final scenes in which a partially healed Phil moves on to his next great adventure that the audience hopes leads to fulfilling the prediction in "World" that this boy becomes a great man.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "World" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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