Film Report: Dark Matter (2014)

Dark Matter (2014)
Country: UK
Director: Maurice Smith
Stars: Dominic O'Flyn, Gina Purcell, Jamie-Jodie Shanks

Gifted space scientist James Reynolds (Dominic O'Flynn) has gone into a pit of despair following the death of his wife Christine in a car accident.  In the months that follow this tragedy he shuts himself away at home, dropping out of everyday life, until one night a meteorite lands in his back garden.  His curiosity is piqued by its strange properties and he suspects it may be a seed.  He cultivates it in his bath and it grows speedily into the form of a young woman, fresh and innocent and full of wonder about the world.  James names her Stellar (Jamie-Jodie Shanks) and takes to the role of her worldly educator.  The alien ingénue swiftly learns how to behave and communicate, but as her alien intellect matures what seemed like a miracle turns into a nightmare when Stellar's true purpose in coming to Earth is revealed and we learn how inextricably linked the recent traumatic events in James' life have been.

Dark Matter is a science fiction horror which initially seems very promising telling the tale of an innocent foundling from the stars coming into the life of a broken man in need of a purpose.  Had that facet been the full sweep of the story it might have been rather good.  But Stellar's naïve endearing phase doesn’t last for long and as her awareness of purpose blooms the story slides into baffling incomprehensibility.  Its scope is one of galaxy saving proportions, with timeslips and alternate realities thrown in, but it's all played out on a scale too small to match the story's ambitions with most of the galactic drama being merely referred to in exposition.

On the female nudity side Jamie-Jodie Shanks who plays Stellar is seen naked in a shower when James washes away her birthing encrustments to reveal her fully formed body; and again when she is playing joyfully in the rain enjoying new sensations

Jamie-Jodie Shanks in Dark Matter

Gina Purcell plays James' colleague Valerie who comes to his house to check up on him and becomes heavily embroiled in the action.  She is seen topless a few times with the main occasion being a sex scene set in an alternate reality where she is James' wife.

Gina Purcell in Dark Matter