Sundance. Dark Matter.

"Ostensibly based on a true story, [Dark Matter; site] follows the progress of brilliant young Chinese cosmology post-grad Liu Xing who finds that coming to the US to work with his academic idol ain't necessarily all it's cracked up to be," writes Ben Walters for Time Out. "The performances are pretty good, with an engaging lead turn from Liu Ye and Meryl Streep on typically assured form as the university patron who takes a shine to him, but debut director Chen Shi-Zheng is less adept, wheeling out gimmicky effects in an attempt to get inside Liu's head."

"Critiquing both the relentless Eastern drive for success and the insular, self-serving nature of Western academia, this debut feature from opera and theater helmer Chen Shi-Zheng never fully succeeds in burrowing under its protagonist's skin, despite conspicuous effort," writes Justin Chang in Variety. "There's a smart movie to be made about the often unhealthy pressure Asians face to work hard and succeed, but even as a tale of one student's destructive choices, Billy Shebar's script fails to lay the necessary groundwork for Liu Xing's sudden shift into violence. The result is a middling academic drama that passes pleasantly enough for roughly an hour before detouring into a tacked-on tragic climax."

Coverage of the coverage: The Park City Index.

Posted by dwhudson at January 31, 2007 8:56 AM