Dark Matter (I) (2007)

Based on actual events, a Chinese university student responds violently when his chances for a Nobel Prize are dashed by school politics.

Director:

Shi-Zheng Chen

Writers:

Billy Shebar (screenplay), Shi-Zheng Chen (story),

Stars:

Meryl Streep, Ye Liu, Peng Chi

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meryl Streep	...	Joanna Silver
Ye Liu	...	Liu Xing
Peng Chi	...	Mama
Aidan Quinn	...	Jacob Reiser
Blair Brown	...	Hildy
Yonggui Wang	...	Baba
Lei Tsao	...	Zhang Ming
Jing Shan	...	Wang Ying
He Yu	...	Old Wu
Bo Li	...	Little Square
Boris McGiver	...	Reverend Hollings
Bill Irwin	...	Hal Silver
Hui Zhang	...	Monkey King
Taylor Schilling	...	Jackie
Joe Grifasi	...	Professor Colby

Storyline

Liu Xing is a scholarship boy from China, newly arrived in Salt Lake City, a graduate student in cosmology, in Utah to study in Professor Reiser's prestigious program. Back in China, Liu Xing's parents are proud of him, and he dedicates himself to fulfilling their hopes. All the graduate students in the program work on projects that extend and further Reiser's model of the origins of the universe. Liu Xing does well until his own theories move him away from Reiser's. Will Reiser and the department recognize Liu Xing's brilliance? Can the young man's benefactor, Joanna Silver, intercede?

---

Plot Keywords:

student | professor | chinese | universe | cosmology | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for a scene of violence, brief sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

24 April 2008 (Singapore)

Also Known As:

Matéria Negra

Filming Locations:

Orem, Utah, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$8,701 (USA) (11 April 2008)

Gross:

$30,041 (USA) (16 May 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Saltmill, Myriad Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Inspired by a true story, the film follows the life of Liu Xing, a Chinese academic studying in America who gets caught up in campus politics.

---

Crazy Credits

Still Photographer 'Matthew Margolin' (qv) and Additional Still Photographer 'Tyler Meiners' (qv) are listed twice during the end credit roll.

User Reviews

I Hope Your Happy Now

No one can know what is in the mind of another-especially in the case of mass murder. Shi-Zheng Chen, director of DARK MATTER, has created a fresh vision of America from the point of view of a recent arrival to this country. Liu Ying, masterfully played by Ye Liu, is a Chinese graduate student who has come to the US to study Cosmology with a professor that he has idolized his entire life. Ying's life seems to be filled with unlimited possibility, and the answers to all of his dreams and wishes seem just around the corner. DARK MATTER's forte is the portrayal of the energized spirit in this young graduate student. The film is shot in Big Sky country of Utah, and this location perfectly mirrors this limitless potential. Ying's area of study is the examination of dark and uncharted areas of the cosmos which seem to exert dramatic effects on the nature of life. These 'dark areas' are mirrored in the clandestine machinations of the politics of graduate school. It seems that the unfettered life of the mind only works if new ideas are able to fit within intellectual processes which have been well established over time. And this becomes the dilemma of the film. How can the free and uninhibited flow of ideas intersect with the rigidity of higher education? The sudden and shocking climax to the movie is a resolution to this issue, although certainly not a fair or just one. DARK MATTER shows how violence can be the inescapable consequence of murdered hope.