Posted by Mr. Beaks

Ideally, I'd write reviews for both of these films, but, thus far, neither one has turned up here in Los Angeles.  In lieu of my questionable critical acumen, I'll turn it over to the withering perspective of Matt Zoller Seitz, who veers from the heraldic consensus on The World, while making sweet love to the difficult Tropical Malady, which is finally getting a stateside release after its polarizing reception at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Some excerpts:

"Jia Zhangke's The World arrives in the U.S. preceded by near-unanimous critical praise. The more awestruck notices tend to gloss over the movie's flaws; there are narrative gaps that seem more like evidence of disorganization and overreaching than conscious, elliptical intent, and Jia sometimes seems determined to freight even minor scenes with 'importance' by letting them run as long as possible. (Movies you like are never slow; they're 'deliberate.')"

and, on Tropical Malady...

"The film's final confrontation—man facing animal, separated by great distance and height and enfolded by jungle gloom—is one of the eeriest visualizations of an unbridgable love in modern cinema."