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Long awaited 'Dark Matter' to open in USA (LINK)
‘Dark Mater’ is the story of a promising Chinese graduate student in physics, Liu Xing (Liu Ye), studying at a prominent American University. Lin Xing is ambitious, he has great dreams and goals, and the intelligence to make them reality. ‘Dark Matter’ is based on a true story, which took place in the not so distant 1990s.
Lin Xing's superiority is obvious, and it gains him the support of his charming Professor, Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn), as well as, Joanna Silver (Meryl Streep), a wealthy socialite and university patron. Things are going great, he is able to send money and a piece of his dreams home to his family in China; his future looks more rosy with each passing day.
However, Xing's research in his chosen field, the origins of the universe, leads him into dangerous ground, that of dark matter, one of the great unchartered areas of physics. He fixates on it. But Professor Reiser wants wants Xing to prove his-own theory, and drop his research into dark matter.
All the elements that have gotten Xing to this point in his life, will not allow him to drop his research, and his problems, and the drama, start when he publishes his brilliant paper on Dark Matter.
Wide release had been delayed back on April 27, 2007, reportedly because of similarities in the Virginia Tech massacre.
‘Dark Matter’ chronicles Lin Xing's journey, a student who came to the United States to study the origins of the universe at a prestigious university and got lost in the very cosmos he was pursuing. Too busy chasing the stars in the sky, he lost sight of the ground beneath his feet. This film celebrates the awe and passion of science, the pursuit of the American dream and the struggle to learn, connect with, and understand the language and cultural norms of a foreign country.
It is now being released theatrically on the following dates
4/11 - New York City - Village East Cinemas
4/11 - Boston - Landmark Kendall Square
4/18 - Austin, Texas - Regal Arbor Theatre at Great Hills
4/18 - Los Angeles - Laemmle Sunset 5
4/18 – Pasadena, Ca - Laemmle Playhouse 7
4/18 - Irvine, Ca - Edward's University Town Center 6
4/25 - Madison, WI - Sundance Cinemas
5/2 - San Francisco - Landmark Lumiere
5/2 - Berkeley, Ca - Landmark Shattuck
5/16 - Chicago, IL - Facets Cinematheque
Dark Matter Trailer
Dark Matter is based on a true story. According to Wikipedia:
Motives and events leading to the shooting
Lu had received his doctoral degree the previous May. Months before the shootings, he wrote five letters explaining the reasons for his planned actions. According to university officials, four of the letters are in English and were intended to be sent to news organizations. One is in Chinese. The letters have not been released to the public. According to the university, Lu said in the letters that he was angry and jealous that his doctoral dissertation had not received a prestigious academic award. Linhua Shan, another student, had received the award.
University of Iowa Shooting
On Friday, November 1, 1991, using a .38-caliber revolver and a .22 caliber handgun, he shot and killed five people on the Iowa campus in Iowa City, seriously wounded and paralyzing another, and then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.
Those killed in Van Allen Hall, the physics department's building were Christoph K. Goertz, a professor in the department and Lu's academic advisor; Dwight R. Nicholson, chairman of the physics and astronomy department; Robert Alan Smith, an assistant professor; and Linhua Shan, a fellow physics graduate student, also from China. T. Anne Cleary, the assistant vice president for academic affairs, was killed in Jessup Hall, the main administration building, where a student employee, Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, was shot in the spine, permanently paralyzing her arms and legs.
Writings and films
Writer Jo Ann Beard later wrote an acclaimed personal essay based in part on the killings. The essay, called "The Fourth State of Matter," was originally published in The New Yorker, appeared in the 1997 edition of Best American Essays, and was later published in her collection of personal essays, The Boys of My Youth. Beard worked as an editor for a physics journal at the university and was a colleague of the victims, working closely with several of them.
Based on Gang Lu's story, director Chen Shi-zheng made a feature film, ‘Dark Matter,’ starring Liu Ye and Meryl Streep.
The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007.
Film & TV on DVD
Pop Movie Comment
A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That
Picture has a small distributor and will wait to see returns from limited release across USA next month.
I am sure international roll out will depend on domestic USA release.
Even though today, a movie's take is generally 60% international - so seems to me a world wide release at same time as USA would be most beneficial - especially to get favorable press from States release.
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