Don't Cry

Don't Cry

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Jan 1, 2002

Runtime

1h 20m

Genres

Drama

Original Title

Jylama

Production Companies

Kazakhfilm Studios

Director

Amir Karakulov

Description

The story of a Chinese-trained opera singer living in a remote Kazakh village with her grandmother and her ailing young niece. The bulk of the action consists of the steadfast heroine trying to make enough money to get the rare and costly medicine that may save her niece's life. What makes the film so thrilling is that this elemental situation allows the director and his cast of non-actors to illuminate the details of everyday life: reality and fiction dissolve into each other, and the audience achieves a heightened awareness of simple activities like the cooking of a meal, teaching a child to count in Chinese and English, visits to the doctor or the marketplace. Entirely improvised by the filmmaker and his actors.