Dark Matter

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  • Opened April 11, 2008 
  • 1 hr 30 min
  • R | scene of violence, brief sexual content and language

  • Parents: Common Sense Media says Iffy for 16+. More on child suitability

  • Liu Xing arrives at a big Western university to study the origins of the universe. He finds other Chinese students to share a cheap apartment with him, and flirts with an attractive American girl who works in a local tea shop. When the head of the department, Jacob Reiser, welcomes Liu Xing into his select cosmology group, it seems that he has a bright future in American science. At an orientation for foreigners sponsored by a local church, Joanna Silver, a wealthy patron of the university, notices the earnest student. An unspoken bond forms between them. Liu Xing becomes Reiser's protégé, accompanying him to a prestigious conference where he makes an impressive debut. He is drawn to the study of dark matter, an unseen substance that shapes the universe, but it soon becomes clear that his developing theories threaten Reiser's conflicting theories and well-established studies. Left alone with his shattered dreams, he explodes in a final act of violence. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn, Meryl Streep, Blair Brown, Chi Peng
  • Director: Chen Shi-Zheng
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Drama

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Critic Reviews

75
Chicago Tribune
|

The film does a fine job of displaying the contrasts between these tense, formalized Chinese students and the faux populist American academics. Read full review

70
The New York Times
| Stephen Holden

Dark Matter, with its view of cutthroat politics and competing egos inside a university, is also laudable in its refusal to soft-pedal the viciously petty side of the academic fishbowl. Read full review

60
New York Daily News
| Joe Neumaier

Director Chen Shi-Zheng's film has a graceful energy, and three strong performances help make this serene drama - and its shocking conclusion - quietly moving. Read full review

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Meryl Streep in "Dark Matter."