Dark Matter
Directed by renowned operatic and theatrical director Shi-Zheng Chen, Dark Matter stars Ye Liu, Meryl Streep and Aidan Quinn. The movie is based on the true story of a physics student from China who shot and killed six people on the University of Iowa campus in 1991.
Liu Xing (Liu Ye), comes to the U.S. to pursue his degree and realize his academic dreams at the Valley State University where he joins a selected cosmology group under the direction of famous cosmologist Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn). As Xing achieves more and more, he begins to encounter unexpected obstacles in life which turns to a darker side when he struggles for the highest academic award — the Noble Prize.
Moviefone reports that becoming Reiser’s protégé leads Xing to believe that he has a bright future in American science.
Liu’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 American science. But Liu is obsessed with the study of dark matter, an unseen substance that he believes shapes the universe and a theory that conflicts with the Reiser model. When Liu begins to make scientific breakthroughs of his own, he starts to encounter unexpected obstacles.
According to RopeofSillicon.com, at the end of the movie, Xing’s dissertation is rejected and he is left by his friends and roommates. Alone with his shattered dreams in America, Xing explodes in a final act of violence.
When he is eclipsed within the department by Laurence, a more dutiful Chinese student, Liu Xing is forced to go behind Reiser’s back to publish his discoveries. When the article draws ire instead of accolades, he turns to Joanna, who naively encourages him on his collision course. Liu Xing clings to the idea of American science as a free market of ideas, and American society as wide open to immigrants. But in the end, his dissertation is rejected, and the girl in the tea shop brushes him off.
Until the movie is released next month, enjoy the official trailer.