Shower
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Movie Reviews of Shower
Movie Review: A Film About Family, Love, Responsibilities And Crickets
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a sweet-natured film that depends heavily on the tugs of family responsibility and the characters we meet for its charm. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed. Da Ming (Pu Cunxin) is a businessman in a big city in southern China who receives a cryptic postcard from his younger brother, Er Ming (Jiang Wu). Er Ming is retarded and the postcard shows a rough drawing of their father, Master Liu (Zhu Xu), lying on a slab with Er Ming sitting next to him. Thinking his father is dead or seriously ill, Da Ming arrives in Beijing and shows up at the traditional bath house his father owns. Liu may be aging and is not too well, but he still manages the bath house with the help of Er Ming. The two enjoy each other's company. They run races and have contests to see who can hold his breath longest. Er Ming may be retarded and slow, but he takes delight in the work of the bath house and his responsibilities. He has a good heart. But all this can't last; the neighborhood is scheduled to be torn down for new development.
As Da Ming's visit lengthens, he becomes reacquainted with his father and brother and the life they lead running the bath house. He comes to appreciate the slower pace of things. Through his father and Er Ming, he's able to observe the lives of the customers. When his father dies, he makes some decisions that he soon realizes are wrong. He's learned more than he thought during his stay with his father and brother at the bath house.
The movie is a bit sentimental. It pushes the themes of family and the value of the old ways. It also is a warm and amusing look at peoples' lives. We come to know the two old men who argue over their cricket matches and accuse each other of trickery, and the hen-pecked man with a harridan for a wife, who has a marital problem that won't rise to the occasion, and the chubby, shy teen-ager who sings O Solo Mio with confidence in the showers but can't get anything out on a stage, and the young man who dreams of business success and keeps getting in debt to the wrong men. And since most of the movie takes place in this old, traditional bath house, we can see a slice of Chinese life which is rapidly fading away. Master Liu's bath house is not just a place to bathe, it's a place to spend the day if you want, to sleep, to gossip, to enjoy friends, to play long games of xiangqi, to soak and get a massage, to be cupped or get a manicure (with an instrument that looks like it could peel the flesh off your finger if Master Liu ever slipped). It's a place where problems can be fixed, whether marital or singing or crickets.
At the end of the movie the bulldozers are tearing down the neighborhood. The bath house finally has closed. The old patrons are scattering to new homes. Er Ming and his brother will soon be returning to Da Ming's home, and we hope Da Ming's wife will learn the lesson's about family that her husband has learned. We're hopeful, but we're not sure.
The actors all do fine jobs. Zhu Xu, who plays the father, played the lead in a very good movie, The King of Masks. The DVD looks just fine. There are no significant extras.
Movie Review: Shower: getting clean is only a small part
Summary: 4 Stars
Yes people in china like to bathe. Some, like in the opening shot, prefer a fast, technological scrub, while others prefer to drown the day away in the comfort of local bath houses. This is not one of those foreign films that tries to take you to a mythological past, or present you with the problems of a system, it tries to show you real people and the way their souls, and bodies, are cleansed. Fine performances by the lead actors, especially Wu Jiang who plays Er ming, the younger brother who is mentally disabled but is quite content to work in his fathers local bathhouse, where most of the guests treat him like family. The father and Er Ming have a special bond, jogging after work, which ends up in a contest, seeing who can hold their breath the longest and spraying each other as they clean the bath house. In a fine subdued performance Er Ming's older brother comes back for a visit, thinking that his father was ill because of the post card sent to him by Er ming. When all turns out well intially, Da ming, (older brother), wants to return home. But as fate would have hit something does happen to father and Da Ming is forced to make a choice about his destiny, which is explained to him in such a unique way by a dung beetle special on tv. This film is filled with good heart and wit and is one that should be viewed by those who want substance over style and for all of you who are tired of pearl harbor, swordfish, gone in 60 seconds mentality the most of mainstream hollywood studios think you will likeMovie Review: I'M HEADING FOR AN "ON-SEN"
Summary: 4 Stars
What a heartwarming film from China!The plot is delectably "fresh" yet universal -- a successful businessman from Shenzhen (in southern China, close to Hong Kong) visits his elderly father and younger brother after a long separation, upon a mistaken pictorial message that his father has expired. The old man and the (intellectually deprived) younger son run an old fashioned bathhouse in downtown Beijing. Upon finding out that the postcard he received was misleading and that the father is well and good, the elder brother wants to return back to his life. Will he? Can he?
The fluid narrative is laced with some subtle humor so as not to depress or bore the audience. The slice of real-life China is delectable, the scenes of the men's camaraderie and reverie in the bathhouse are alone interesting enough to grab a copy of this DVD. The chemistry between the actors is wonderful.
The bathhouse, it turns out, has a deeper presence in the movie than being simply the backdrop for the family. As the father told the son the story of his wife's family in the northern deserts of china, the element of water and bathing becomes an almost sacred ritual. Water was so scarce that a simple bath had profound depth and meaning.
Although some moments verge on over-done sweetness (even bordering on cloying during the final park recital scene when water makes an intridguing appearance), "Shower" is overall a very effective film with a simple yet touching message.
Highly recommended!
Movie Review: A nostalgic look at the cost of modernization
Summary: 4 Stars
Modernization brings with it a loosening of constraints, both social and economic. One need not fulfill the wishes of parents or be limited by the norms of the community. Increased income allows greater mobility and freedom. This movie, however, explores what is lost as we abandon our heritage, the people who raised us, and the communities in which we lived. Is it overly nostalgic and sentimental? Perhaps. Nevertheless, it is a warm-hearted attempt to examine the question of what we may be losing as we pursue our dreams. Superb acting throughout the movie, well worth watching.Movie Review: not so boring
Summary: 4 Stars
I would like to mention that Shower won the Golden Space Needle Award as the audience favorite of the films screened at the Seattle International Film Festival. This award is given to the film receiving the most votes from those attending - approximately 120,000 people. It also came in second in the voting by people who purchased full series passes and averaged 63 films each over the three weeks of the festival. Beyond the story of a guy who owns a bathhouse, it also talks about the economic change in China, cultural displacement, and families.