Dark Matter (2007/I)

Director:

Shi-Zheng Chen

Writers:

Shi-Zheng Chen (story) and
Billy Shebar (story) ...

Release Date:

24 April 2008 (Singapore)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Student | University | Theory | Chinese | Universe

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Ye Liu	...	Liu Xing
Meryl Streep	...	Joanna Silver
Aidan Quinn	...	Reiser
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sina Amedson	...	Selim
Erick Avari	...	R.K. Gazda
Blair Brown	...	Hildy
Rob Campbell	...	Small
Dan Christensen	...	Professor
Jeshua De Horta	...	Student
Joe Grifasi	...	Colby
Bill Irwin	...	Herb
Krystal King	...	Girl / one night stand
Boris McGiver	...	Reverend Hollings
John Rothman	...	Rene
Jodi Russell	...	Claire
Taylor Schilling	...	Jackie
Lloyd Suh	...	Laurence Feng
Tisha Vaculin	...	Waitress
He Yu	...	Wu

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Singapore:NC-16 | Finland:K-13 | Argentina:18 | Mexico:B15 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Orem, Utah, USA

Company:

Saltmill

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.

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.