Fridae

Now this is a tough call. Dark Matter is not a film we'd recommend everyone. It is dark, complex, manipulative and disturbing. And ultimately, it doesn't hold together as a piece of cinema. But to its credit, Dark Matter is one film that doesn't bother to dumb down for the sake of commercialism � unlike many so-called art films today.

Directed by Chinese opera director Chen Shi-Zheng, it stars Liu Ye (Lan Yu, Curse of the Golden Flower) as a brilliant cosmology student in China who goes to the United States to pursue his PhD. Once there, he discovers that the ugly politicking and backstabbing that goes on in the sacred halls of academia, and gradually becomes disillusioned. He feels anger and alone in a foreign land, and these sentiments turn into violence...

The film also stars Meryl Streep as a kindly patron of the university and Aidan Quinn as a turncoat professor, both of whom give strong performances.

Although Dark Matter will bore most audiences, especially with its discussions of 'dark matter' and other things cosmology, we still recommend it to discerning audiences who are hungry for an intellectually-challenging work. Despite its glaring flaws, Dark Matter may just be the film that will satisfy you this week.