Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Based on the 1991 shootings at the University of Iowa where a Chinese graduate student killed five people before killing himself, Dark Matter presents an uneasy look at the intense pressures of scientific academia and the cultural assimilation of Chinese students in America.

The half-subtitled film, directed by opera director Chen Si-Zheng, is not an extravagant piece as his operatic background might suggest. Si-Zheng bathes the film in blue tones, giving everything a gloomy, clouded feeling. While the effect may have been intended to match the film’s “dark” title and themes, it only makes for a drowsy viewing experience. In fact, most of the movie is a muted bore and it does little to set up the shocking, explosive ending. The conclusion feels confusingly out-of-sync. Si-Zheng also plays with sequence and repetition with choppy, disorienting results. Since Dark Matter is based on a true story, the film may have been better suited with a more straightforward style.

Ye Liu gives a subdued performance as Liu Xing, a brilliant Chinese student who comes to an American university to work under the leadership of esteemed cosmologist Dr. Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn). He quickly excels among his fellow students as one of the top cosmology (a branch of astronomy that focuses on the origins and structure of the universe, not to be confused with cosmetology) researchers in the program and he’s especially interested in studying a property called “dark matter.” (I’m not a science person, so don’t ask me to explain.)

Liu Xing wishes to use his studies in dark matter as his dissertation topic, but Reiser rejects his proposal saying it’s too ambitious and much too hard to prove. Despite Reiser’s warnings, Liu Xing presents his dissertation on dark matter anyway and is once again rejected. He doesn’t graduate, doesn’t get a job, and takes to selling skin care products door to door, with resentment and anger bubbling just below the surface.

However, given Ye Liu’s one-note range of emotions, it’s hard to tell what Liu Xing is really feeling, which is why his transition from gracious, eager student to disturbed and vengeful failure is all the more hard to believe.

Giving the film a dose of clarity is the incomparable Meryl Streep as Joanna Silver, a wealthy university patron with a deep interest in Chinese culture and a fondness for the school’s Chinese students. She takes them on field trips to get them acquainted with American culture and acts as a source of encouragement to them. Joanna befriends Liu Xing in particular, seeing his genius but also his fragility.

It’s almost a surprise to see Streep in a small film like this. It’s not a role you’d expect her to take, but you’re grateful she took it. She’s the film’s biggest attribute and her character feels the most real. She’s in contrast with Aidan Quinn’s pompous portrayal of Professor Reiser. Reiser never feels like an intelligent, serious scientist, but instead comes across as a ...