Ma Wu Jia (2007)

Li Shixin, Zeng Jinlan, Liu Xiaoyuan, Ling Zhixing

Fate has forced a young man to grow up in a hurry in this drama from China. Wu Jia (Li Shixin) is a young man in his early teens who is growing up without a father and has to look after his mother as ... read more well as his younger brother Wu Ding (Zeng Jinlan). Wu Ding is living with an ongoing medical condition and requires regular blood transfusions to live an ordinary life; Wu Jia often donates blood for his little brother, but while he's happy to see his condition improving, the regular transfusions leave Wu Jia too weak to join the track team at school, one of his dreams since childhood. The boys' mother, a music teacher, also has heath issues, and sometimes Wu Jia feels as if he's buckling under the pressure circumstances have placed on him. However, the young man can only express in anguish in private, away from those he loves. Ma Wu Jia was the first feature film from writer and director Zhao Ye, who previously had a background in animation. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi