“Suggesting at different moments a backstage musical, a failed love story, a surreal comedy, and even a cartoon fantasy, this beautiful, corrosive, visionary masterpiece by Jia Zhangke is a frighteningly persuasive account of the current state of the planet.”
—The Chicago Reader

Just outside of Beijing lies The World, a surreal theme park featuring wondrous replicas of iconic monuments, where tourists roam, and a dancer (Zhao Tao) and a security guard (Cheng Taishen) tessellate in a riveting simulation of modern globalization.