Dark Matter (2006)
Dark Matter Doesn't
It's great to see a movie the focuses on Chinese students in an American college setting, with the pressures and cross-cultural humor. At the college I teach at, there is a huge population of Asian students (many or most are Chinese) and they are a great presence on and off campus. Much of the dialog in Dark Matter is in Mandarin (I think) with subtitles. And so there is real interest for that.
But this international slant is not enough to make the movie a good movie. What happened to plot, continuity, vision, editing, and oh, don't forget, acting? Even Meryl Streep is just a small time ham in this setting, at ease more with herself than her role. This is great drive-in fare, for the second show. If you have a science or astrophysics/cosmology background, you'll find it especially vexing, I think. I did.
The plot is a drawn out version of a somewhat familiar story: the brilliant kid (played by a very sweet Ye Lui) at college facing obstacles to his/her greatness (as a science wiz). As in Good Will Hunting. In this case, Streep is an American who likes Chinese culture, so she is a likable ambassador to show our main character around. And to do Tai-Chi now and then. And there is the issue of the students, mainly the rivalry between them to win over the professor and get to speak at a conference.
In a way, none of this serious stuff matters. It's really a romantic comedy, alternating between saccharine touchy-feely land and goofy silliness, all of which we've seen before, and some of which is genuinely funny if you relax about the whole thing.. Director Shi- Zheng Chen's first film might not be his last, so cross your fingers that he keeps the good stuff and develops his art, and gets good scriptwriters.
The only thing I can think of that motivated this movie is that it was aimed at a cross- over between Chinese and Chinese-American audiences. Who knows, with the rising tides in China's science community, it's growing love of movies, and it's continuing competition with the United States in all things, this kind of easy-to-digest tale might just be a hit there.
And the ending? Meant to be high drama, it's a total cheap sensationalist cop out, and downright ugly all around. I found it almost shameful it was so forced and violent. Unless you are really interested in some of the underlying themes, skip this one.
Dark Matter Doesn't
It's great to see a movie the focuses on Chinese students in an American college setting, with the pressures and cross-cultural humor. At the college I teach at, there is a huge population of Asian students (many or most are Chinese) and they are a great presence on and off campus. Much of the dialog in Dark Matter is in Mandarin (I think) with subtitles. And so there is real interest for that.
But this international slant is not enough to make the movie a good movie. What happened to plot, continuity, vision, editing, and oh, don't forget, acting? Even Meryl Streep is just a small time ham in this setting, at ease more with herself than her role. This is great drive-in fare, for the second show. If you have a science or astrophysics/cosmology background, you'll find it especially vexing, I think. I did.
The plot is a drawn out version of a somewhat familiar story: the brilliant kid (played by a very sweet Ye Lui) at college facing obstacles to his/her greatness (as a science wiz). As in Good Will Hunting. In this case, Streep is an American who likes Chinese culture, so she is a likable ambassador to show our main character around. And to do Tai-Chi now and then. And there is the issue of the students, mainly the rivalry between them to win over the professor and get to speak at a conference.
In a way, none of this serious stuff matters. It's really a romantic comedy, alternating between saccharine touchy-feely land and goofy silliness, all of which we've seen before, and some of which is genuinely funny if you relax about the whole thing.. Director Shi- Zheng Chen's first film might not be his last, so cross your fingers that he keeps the good stuff and develops his art, and gets good scriptwriters.
The only thing I can think of that motivated this movie is that it was aimed at a cross- over between Chinese and Chinese-American audiences. Who knows, with the rising tides in China's science community, it's growing love of movies, and it's continuing competition with the United States in all things, this kind of easy-to-digest tale might just be a hit there.
And the ending? Meant to be high drama, it's a total cheap sensationalist cop out, and downright ugly all around. I found it almost shameful it was so forced and violent. Unless you are really interested in some of the underlying themes, skip this one.