Dark Matter (film)
Encyclopedia
Dark Matter is the first feature film by opera director Chen Shi-zheng
Chen Shi-zheng
Chen Shi-Zheng 陳士爭 born in 1963 in Changsha, Hunan, China) is a New York-based theater director.Having earned a BA from the Hunan Art School in Traditional Opera, he received his MA from the Tisch School of Art at New York University...

, starring Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

 and Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...

. It won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize
Alfred P. Sloan Prize
The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. The prize is given to a feature film that focuses on science or technology as a theme, or depicts a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.Each winner is presented...

 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
2007 Sundance Film Festival
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007 in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival...

.

Liu Ye plays a young scientist whose rising star must confront the dark forces of politics, ego, and cultural insensitivity. The film is based on true events.

Plot summary

The film is loosely inspired by the true story of Gang Lu
Gang Lu
The University of Iowa shooting was a school shooting that occurred at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa on November 1, 1991. The gunman, 28-year-old Gang Lu, killed four members of the university faculty and one student...

, a Chinese physics graduate student who killed four faculty members and one student at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

. However, the story has substantial differences in plot and character motivation.

The film stars Liu Xing (Liu Ye) as a humble but brilliant Chinese student who arrives at Valley State University and makes a bumpy transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver (Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...

). Silver is a wealthy university patron who has a fascination with Chinese culture and takes a liking to Liu Xing. Xing joins a select cosmology
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...

 group under the direction of his hero, the famous cosmologist Professor Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

). The group is working to create a model of the origins of the universe, based on Reiser's theory. Xing's enormous talent leads him quickly to become Reiser's protégé, and it seems that only hard work stands between him and a bright future in science.

Xing is obsessed with the study of dark matter
Dark matter
In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is matter that neither emits nor scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly detected via optical or radio astronomy...

, an unseen substance that he believes shapes the universe, and a theory that conflicts with the Reiser model. Xing makes scientific breakthroughs of his own which improve the Reiser model. Even though it would challenge Professor Reiser's work, Liu Xing proposes to research the dark matter "problem" for his doctoral dissertation. Reiser suggests to Xing that this type of research is too complicated and that he should pick a more simple dissertation topic.

Refusing to work with Xing, Reiser finds a new protégé in Feng Gang (Lloyd Suh), another Chinese student who was Xing's rival in undergraduate school in Beijing. Professor Reiser approves of Feng's dissertation proposal as it sticks to the Reiser model. Feng's English skills are far superior to his fellow Chinese students' and refuses to speak in Mandarin with them. Feng changes his name to Laurence and his wife changes her name to Cindy in order to be more American. Later on Laurence and Cindy have their child baptized in a local church.

Without the permission of Professor Reiser, Xing has a paper published in an astronomy journal. In a spiteful act, Reiser refuses to accept Xing's dissertation and does not allow him to receive his Ph.D.

At a graduation party for the Chinese students it is announced that Laurence Feng has won the university's science dissertation prize for that year. Joanna Silver urges Professor Reiser to do something to help Liu Xing. Reiser informs her that he has written a "very fine" recommendation for him.

With his dream of winning the Nobel Prize shattered, Xing finds work in selling beauty products. His roommate offers to try to help him find a job back in China but Xing refuses to leave. A few months pass and Xing mails all of the money he has earned to his parents in China.

No longer able to deal with the indignation, Xing returns to campus. He heads into an auditorium where Laurence Feng is giving a presentation to the cosmology department. Enraged by the way he was mistreated, Xing takes a revolver out of his coat and begins shooting. Feng is shot first in the face. Xing then turns to Reiser and fires a bullet into his former hero's forehead. While the audience is running for the door, Xing manages to shoot Professor Colby in the back. Xing finds the third member of his committee crawling on the floor and guns him down before he can escape.

After the shooting, Cindy Feng attempts to speak to Xing while he is leaving. Ignoring her, Xing makes his way to Professor Reiser's office and takes his own life.

Soundtrack

No official soundtrack has been released. Here is a list of songs and production music
Production music
Production music is the name given to recorded music produced and owned by production music libraries and licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media.-Introduction:...

 featured in the film according to the end credits.
  • From 00:00:24 to 00:02:17, the song "Nostalgia" is used when Joanna Silver is playing T'ai chi ch'uan and Liu Xing is waiting to see Professor Jacob Reiser. It is performed by the Beijing Angelic Choir
    Beijing Angelic Choir
    The Beijing Angelic Choir is a children's choir based in Beijing, China. Since its establishment, it has toured extensively in the world as well as in China....

    . It is Track 13 from the choir's album "Praying" released by Wind Music. The name of this song should rather be known as "Going Home." It is based on Antonín Dvořák
    Antonín Dvorák
    Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

    's Symphony No. 9 in E minor 'From The New World', Op. 95 - II. Largo.

  • From 00:03:46 to 00:04:44, a lute version of the said music "Going Home" is used when Liu Xing finishes the meeting with Professor Jacob Reiser and is greeted by his secretary. It ends after Liu Xing enters the Cosmology Research Group and sits down putting a floppy into the computer. It is unknown who performs the music.

  • From 00:05:07 to 00:05:25, the music "Square Wheels" is played when Liu Xing leaves the campus and goes back to his apartment. It is written by Simon Stewart and published by De Wolfe Music (ASCAP), known as American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

  • From 00:05:59 to 00:06:34, the music "Gettin' it On" is played when a porn movie is airing after Liu Xing's roommate manages to hook up the antenna. The music is said to be an 80's porn theme with sax, flutes & synth. "Funky" as advertised. It is written by Richard Boisson and published by ZFC Music (ASCAP), under license from FirstCom Music.

  • From 00:08:36 to 00:09:00, Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

    's "Brandenburg concertos#Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050" is used when Joanna Silver ignites her car and drives the students to a cowboy town. It is performed by Concerto Italiano
    Concerto Italiano
    Concerto Italiano is an Italian early music ensemble well-known for their interpretations of Monteverdi and Vivaldi, among others.The historically informed performance ensemble was formed by the harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini, and made its Rome debut with Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto in 1984...

     & Rinaldo Alessandrini
    Rinaldo Alessandrini
    Rinaldo Alessandrini is a virtuoso on Baroque keyboards, including harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ. He is founder and conductor of the Italian early music ensemble Concerto Italiano, performing music of Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Couperin, J. S. Bach, and others...

    .

  • From 00:09:39 to 00:10:01, a production music
    Production music
    Production music is the name given to recorded music produced and owned by production music libraries and licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media.-Introduction:...

     called "High Noon" is used when Liu Xing is ready to enter a "duel" with three other Chinese students dressed in cowboy costume. It is provided by APM Music LLC.

  • From 00:10:05 to 00:10:08, the very beginning of the production music "Hot Desert" is used when the Chinese cowboys prepare to pull out their guns to duel. It is written by Tim Souster and published by Hudson Music (ASCAP), under License from De Wolfe Music.

  • From 00:10:10 to 00:10:22, another western-styled music is played when Liu Xing and the other Chinese cowboys start to shoot at the other. The name of this music is not yet known.

  • From 00:11:28 to 00:12:13, instrumentals of Bryan Bowers' version of "Red River Valley" is heard when Liu Xing is doing his studies and printing out his discovery. It is under license from Flying Fish / Rounder Records.

  • From 00:15:33 to 00:16:06, Beijing Angelic Choir
    Beijing Angelic Choir
    The Beijing Angelic Choir is a children's choir based in Beijing, China. Since its establishment, it has toured extensively in the world as well as in China....

    's "Old Black Joe" is used when Liu Xing is taking time off and having fun with his roommates. It is Track 3 from the choir's album "Praying" under license from Wind Music.

  • From 00:18:43 to 00:19:42, the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

    's "Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201" is performed by the Unique Tracks Radio Orchestra when Liu Xing finishes the toast and explains dark matter to Joanna Silver.

  • From 00:20:27 to 00:21:17, "Guantanamera
    Guantanamera
    "Guantanamera" is perhaps the best known Cuban song and that country's most noted patriotic song.-Music:The music for the song is sometimes attributed to José Fernández Diaz, known as Joseíto Fernández, who claimed to have written it at various dates , and who used it regularly in one of his radio...

    " is performed by Joseíto Fernández
    Joseíto Fernández
    José Fernández Diaz, September 5, 1908 - October 11, 1979 , commonly known as Joseíto Fernández was a Cuban singer and songwriter. He is the writer of well-known songs, including: "Elige tú, que canto yo", "Amor de madre", Demuéstrame tú, and Así son, boncó, as well as the more famous "Guajira...

     when Liu Xing is having fun with his roommates and Liu Xing proposes a toast to himself, saying he is going to successfully tackle the dark matter issue and marry a white American girl.

  • From 00:21:21 to 00:23:43, some disco-styled music is heard when Liu Xing goes into Beehive Tearoom and tries to hit on the tea lady. The name of this music is not yet known.

  • From 00:26:56 to 00:27:30, Giacomo Puccini
    Giacomo Puccini
    Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...

    's "Tosca
    Tosca
    Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...

    , Act III, 'E lucevan le stelle
    E lucevan le stelle
    "E lucevan le stelle" is the romanza of Mario Cavaradossi , a painter in love with Tosca, in the third act of Puccini's opera Tosca, composed in 1900 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa...

    '" is performed by Jussi Björling
    Jussi Björling
    Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century, Björling appeared frequently at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as well as at other major European opera...

     when Professor Reiser says Liu Xing can always challenge him. It ends after Liu Xing and Joanna Silver leave Reiser's house in a car.

  • From 00:33:23 to 00:33:43, the very beginning of the song "Bird Gehrl" is heard when Liu Xing is contemplating on the campus. It is composed by Antony Hegarty
    Antony Hegarty
    Antony Hegarty is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.-Early life:...

     and performed by Antony and the Johnsons
    Antony and the Johnsons
    Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...

    . It is Track 10 from the album "I'm a Bird Now."

  • From 00:35:28 to 00:36:52, the production music titled "Shenandoah" under license from 5 Alarm Music is used when Liu Xing is reading on campus. The music ends when Liu Xing confronts with his colleague Feng Gang/Lawrence.

  • From 00:45:53 to 00:46:15, some unknown production music is used when Liu Xing comes up with the idea how to tackle the dark matter issue and rushes to school to share his breakthrough with Professor Reiser.

  • From 00:48:16 to 00:49:10, Beijing Angelic Choir
    Beijing Angelic Choir
    The Beijing Angelic Choir is a children's choir based in Beijing, China. Since its establishment, it has toured extensively in the world as well as in China....

    's "Beautiful Dreamer" is used when Liu Xing walks in a wide-open field. It is Track 7 from the choir's album "Beautiful Dreamer" released by Wind Music.

  • From 00:49:50 to 00:51:10, "La Rejouissance" under license from Cavendish Music / Non Stop Music can slightly be heard when Joanna Silver takes Liu Xing to a clothing store to check out a shirt for his dissertation presentation.

  • From 00:52:14 to 00:52:45, VooDoo & Serano
    VooDoo & Serano
    VooDoo & Serano are a duo of DJs and producers/remixers from Germany. They are made up of DJ VooDoo and Tommy Serano.-Discography:Albums*2004 - Back For MoreSingles*1997 - Kick Da Groove...

    's "Cold Blood" is heard when Liu Xing awaits to give his dissertation presentation while his roommates are holding a party to congratulate his wouldbe ascension to PhD. It is written by Reinhard Raith and Andreas Litterscheid.

  • From 00:54:50 to 00:55:16, "Cold Blood" is heard again when Liu Xing's dissertation presentation is rebuked.

  • From 00:58:37 to 01:00:45, the song "Soft Black Stars" is heard when Liu Xing contemplates about his future and goes to the tea lady to express his feelings towards her and gets rejected. It is composed by David Tibet and performed by Antony and the Johnsons
    Antony and the Johnsons
    Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...

     from the single "I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy."

  • From 01:05:12 to 01:08:15, Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

    's "Cantata
    Cantata
    A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

     #82, 'Ich habe genug
    Ich habe genug
    Ich habe genug is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. In Wolfgang Schmieder's catalogue of Bach's works, it is BWV 82....

    '" is heard when Liu Xing goes to Joanna Silver's house to sell her skin care products. It is performed by Emmanuel Music Orchestra
    Emmanuel Music
    Emmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended, an endeavor twice completed...

     and conducted by Craig Smith
    Craig Smith (conductor)
    Craig Smith was an American conductor who is considered a seminal figure in Boston's Baroque music revival of the 1970s and 1980s. In subsequent years he became increasingly known as an international conductor...

    , featuring Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
    Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
    Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was an American mezzo-soprano, known for the dramatic power of her vocal artistry as well as her commitment to performing infrequently-heard Baroque era and contemporary works...

    .

  • From 01:11:54 to 01:14:27, Beijing Angelic Choir
    Beijing Angelic Choir
    The Beijing Angelic Choir is a children's choir based in Beijing, China. Since its establishment, it has toured extensively in the world as well as in China....

    's "Long Long Ago" is used when Liu Xing leaves Joanna Silver's house, failing to sell her the skin care products. He then writes a check bearing his savings over the years to his parents. It is Track 13 from the choir's album "Praying" released by Wind Music.

  • From 01:14:57 to 01:19:48, Beijing Angelic Choir
    Beijing Angelic Choir
    The Beijing Angelic Choir is a children's choir based in Beijing, China. Since its establishment, it has toured extensively in the world as well as in China....

    's "Serenade" is used when Liu Xing goes to Feng Gang/Lawrence's presentation, killing four people. It is Track 13 from the choir's album "Wild Roses" released by Wind Music. The music itself is originally composed by Franz Schubert
    Franz Schubert
    Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...

    .

  • Throughout the end credits, "This Land is Your Land" is used. It is written by Woody Guthrie
    Woody Guthrie
    Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...

     and performed by Sharon Jones. The song is published by Ludlow Music.


So far, four pieces of music listed in the end credits cannot be identified. They could have been used in the said unidenfiable interval between 00:10:10 to 00:10:22 and 00:21:21 to 00:23:43. They are known as:
  • "Hombre" written by John Leach and published by Hudson Music (ASCAP); under license from De Wolfe Music

  • "Cappuccino" under license from 5 Alarm Music

  • "Deep Thought" under license from 5 Alarm Music

  • "From the Bench", the production music
    Production music
    Production music is the name given to recorded music produced and owned by production music libraries and licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media.-Introduction:...

     by Lazy Bones Records.

Release

This film's general US release date, originally set for April 2007, was pushed back over a year because its plot line of an Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...

 student involved in a mass shooting on a US college campus too closely resembled the Virginia Tech massacre
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...

. It was finally released in the US market in April 2008.

Critical reception

At the Sundance Film Festival in January, “Dark Matter,” a fictional account inspired by the shootings, won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for the best feature film dealing with science or technology — “not a genre that attracts a lot of people to work on,” in the words of Brian Greene, a physicist, mathematician and author from Columbia University who was on the panel of judges.

Critics gave the film generally negative to mixed reviews. As of April 11, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 32% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 19 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reported the film had an average score of 49 out of 100, based on 7 reviews.

External links

  • Dark Matter at the 25th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
    San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
    The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented every March is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, USA...

  • Dark Matter at sundance.org
  • Dark Matter Review by Orville Schell
    Orville Schell
    Orville Hickock Schell III is an activist and writer working on China, and is the Arthus Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York...

     from The New York Review of Books
    The New York Review of Books
    The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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