DVD Review: Dark Matter
By Buzz McClain -- Video Business, 3/13/2009
SCREEN MEDIA/UNIVERSAL |
Street: April 14
Prebook: March 17
> Cultures collide in an academic drama featuring Meryl Streep.
Out of the ether comes a recent, virtually unreleased film starring Meryl Streep—and it’s pretty good. First-time director Chen Shi-Zheng adds astounding depth via production details—sets, lights, music—to this true-story tragedy about a Chinese student (Ye Liu) who becomes frustrated by his professor (Aidan Quinn). Streep is outstanding as always as the cultural ambassador who tries to hold things together as her marriage to Bill Irwin falls apart. Liu and the rest of the cast are top notch, particularly Quinn as the threatened professor. Look for Fringe’s Blair Brown in a cameo.
Shelf Talk: A riveting film that should appeal to audiences across the board, including the Asian community, Dark Matter will need a push to spread the word. The studio will do video trade and print advertising in addition to online consumer marketing. Also promote Streep, who dominates the box art and is currently hot from her Oscar nomination for Doubt.
Drama, color, R (mature themes, language, sexual situations, violence), 90 min., DVD $24.98Extras: none
Director: Chen Shi-Zheng
First Run: L, April 2008, <$1 mil.
