Movielogr
Mama (1990)
Directed by Yuan Zhang
Overview
Often cited as China’s first independent feature film, this low-budget drama, filmed largely in the director’s Beijing apartment, depicts the life of a single mother (a topic considered taboo at the time) caring for her mentally challenged son. Shot with a documentary aesthetic that includes interviews with families of mentally challenged persons, the film helped kick-start the Sixth Generation of filmmakers (including Wang Xiaoshuai and Jia Zhangke) and their ethos of employing documentary realism to depict the true conditions of contemporary China.
Length 89 minutes
Actors
Yan Qin | Huang Haibo | Shaquan Pan | Shaokang Yu | Xiaodan Yang