“Best and most original movie I’ve seen in many years.  The simplicity needed to explain the universe is the same simplicity shown in this movie to explain this human story and that is that truth is the most revered and most feared aspect of every culture.”
 
“Very dark matter indeed.”

“It didn’t matter!  Transition was too quick.  There was no sense of time.”

“Artfully done, no doubt about that and the director is clearly very talented, but I found the film predictable.  It was pat and shallow in its perspective.  It has no empathy with its characters.  The murders and suicide are not noble, yet I knew from the first 15 minutes that movie was going to make the ‘MADAME BUTTERFLY’ point.”

“Beautiful and profound!  Rich in imagery, culture and complexity.”

“Bravo!  What a wonderful film!  I have nothing to add to all the terrific comments except this: I visited China in 2001 and loved it.  Your movie is so authentic.  The people I met were extremely open and friendly.  I thank you for this wonderful movie.”

“What was the significance of the sexual overtones between Meryl Streep and main character during final scene with the lotions?  Surrogate, maternal figure?”

“Beautiful film.  What a waste! (human). I loved it.  More films like this please.”

Manufactured and clichéd.  The ugly Americans are matched by the ugly Chinese in a stilted highly predictable fashion.”

“This is a must see for Americans, for teachers, for so called sophisticated thinkers who think they understand young people and foreign cultures…”

“A very powerful and complex film.  I liked the exploration of issues and intertwining Eastern and Western cultures.  Great cast.  Good portrayal of a very sad story.”

“Won’t make it at the box office.  Who is going to get the elements or color symbols.  Very disturbing, but too complex for most audiences.  It was very hard to guess the motivation of Joanna or main character.  That’s the dark matter?  For those who know color symbols, white is death.”

“How fragile and arrogant the ego.  The Russian influence is striking, snow representing death and the contrast of white and black.”

“A very moving film.  Excellent acting, cinematography and direction.”

“Beautiful film with important messages, re: differences in culture, but most important human vanity and the blindness of the university system.  The music was outstanding.  The actors were all convincing!”

“This film was like an opera!”

“The picture dragged and the story line did not fully develop at all.”

“Perhaps trite, but this film is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimension.  It is an exquisite composition, subtle, nuanced, balanced.  Contains all the elements - much as a painting that is considered a masterwork or grand opera.”

“A rich, multi-layered, lyrical study of who ‘flourishes’ in the U.S. society and who doesn’t and of why the consequences are so often tragic.  I was a graduate student at the University of Iowa in 1991 when the events upon which the film is based on occurred.  While almost everything is changed in the film (the names, the campus, the location, the season, almost everything is true.  The film is able to capture through fiction what journalism almost never can.”

“An exquisite film.”

“Good character study.”

“Wonderful!”

“Very thought provoking.”

“Very moving film.”

“The best so far, film and speaker.”

“Great guest!”

“Fascinating, delightful, heartbreaking.”

“Powerful!  Tragic and stunningly depicted.  Wonderful score, American folk songs sung in Chinese, a metaphor for cultural incongruity.  Streep was spectacular!”

“I found the film very interesting and absorbing, but I felt the ending was abrupt.  There was insufficient character development that made the killings and suicide plausible.  Otherwise , the film was so well done, beautifully directed and acted and thought provoking.”

“Gripping film!  A rare treat to understand the immigrant experience.  The ego and power of the university system and the views of America held before and after arriving here.”

“A deeply moving and touching film.”

“A dark, but true subject.  Even though we could see the clash coming I liked the way the story unfolded.  It’s sad that no one could help him psychologically.”

“Meryl Streep is perfect as the wealthy angel.  The film felt like opera.  Quite the indictment of American cultural exchange.  Powerful and surprising.  Shows the limitations of small-minded educators.  The main character is an extraordinary actor who conveys totally the internal isolation he experiences as a superior intellectual and alien in the U.S. culture which is unwilling to truly see him and his genius.  He becomes the dark matter – the image of him being covered in snow.”

“A tragedy with a loss of many brilliant minds that shouldn’t have happened.  Somehow I think that the setting did not matter in the final result.  It would be the rare mentor who would accept his student challenging the basis of the theory on which his reputation was made.  We saw cultural support, but where was the counseling for psychological support?”

“Brilliant film!  The understanding of deep human emotion.  It went to the depth of human nature.”
 
“Thank you for giving a movie that causes one to think, look and understand and feel deep emotion.  I recommend this movie to everyone.  I am looking forward to your next film.”

“A tragic opera.”

“Beautiful cinematography and music.  Powerful acting.”

“I enjoyed this poignant film.  Visually beautiful.  The main character was someone you empathized with.  The use of the Chinese characters between scenes was a wonderful touch.  The last scene - where all the people in his life who touched his life sensed what was imminent - was marvelous.  The film is an interesting study of American Chinese culture.  The fact that he was not a ‘team player’ is so much a part of our American culture.”

“This was an extraordinary film, and on so many levels; the story, the cultural divide, the stunning look of each shot, the rich and evocative soundtrack.  The music was truly amazing; it told the story in and of itself.”