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Shower Details

1999 Certificate 12
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 871 members

This festival favorite from China tells the touching story of a father whose oldest son leaves him. He remains in Beijing, raising his retarded son and running the local bathhouse. When the elder son mistakenly hears that his father has passed away, he returns to Beijing, only to discover the extreme relevance of the bathhouse .. Read more

Starring Zhu Xu, Jiang Wu, Du Peng
Director Zhang Yang
Genres Drama, World Cinema

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Shower

This festival favorite from China tells the touching story of a father whose oldest son leaves him. He remains in Beijing, raising his retarded son and running the local bathhouse. When the elder son mistakenly hears that his father has passed away, he returns to Beijing, only to discover the extreme relevance of the bathhouse and its integral role in the community. SHOWER is an extremely heartwarming film that successfully confronts the issue of changing times in the modern world, while retaining its personal edge at the same time.

Starring Zhu Xu, Jiang Wu, Du Peng
Director Zhang Yang
Studio MOMENTUM PICTURES
Run time DVD: 1 hr 34 mins
Certificate Certificate 12
Genres Drama, World Cinema
Language DVD: Mandarin
Subtitles DVD: English
Released DVD: 06 May 2002
Production year: 1999
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (5) of Shower

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Spicy Love Soup established Zhang Yang among China's most contentious indie directors. However, he's in a less abrasive mood with this obvious but amiable allegory, in which the nation's current obsession with consumerism is symbolised by the imminent closure of a traditional Beijing bathhouse to make way for a soulless shopping mall. City slicker Pu Quanxin's gradual conversion to his father and slow-witted brother's viewpoint hardly makes for incisive politicking. Yet Zhang treats us to a gallery of engaging elderly eccentrics who drink, gamble and gossip their days away — safe from the demands of their (unnecessarily shrewish) womenfolk and the uncaring bureaucrats.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • It's a bit disconcerting that it starts with its most amusing scene - a daydream vision of the bath-house of the future... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Shower

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  • 15 out of 16 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Don't miss this film!

    I absolutely loved this film. Having read quite a bit about the last 100 years of Chinese history, then visiting last November to see the state of the country, I was pleasantly surprised at 'Shower's' invitation to peek into the intimacy between the family members and their small community.

    This film made me smile from the beginning to the end. It's delightful, moving, and sensitively portrays one of China's most delicate dilemmas today - the generation gap between the 20-somethings and their parents.

    I heartily encourage you to take the time to see it - it's well worth it!

      • A customer from Scotland
      • Posted 21 Jul 2004 11:30

  • Most recent members' review of Shower

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  • 5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 5 stars

    Beautiful film

    I thoroughly enjoyed this film it was a gentle slice-of-life film with a difference. The actors were excellent, the story was moving and amusing, everything about it was superb.

    The prodigal son returns to find his father and retarded brother living and working happily in the bath-house they run. He is reluctant to stay, no longer fits in, yet somehow, the customers and his family exert their influence on him. When the whole neighbourhood is threatened with demolition and his father becomes ill, it falls upon him to look after his brother.

    I don't want to spoil it by saying any more, but I recommend this film to people who like something a little more gentle and amusing sometimes.

      • Tomoe from W Sussex
      • Posted 23 Dec 2004 22:12

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Rating breakdown

871 Member ratings
  • 100
132
  • 90
99
  • 80
216
  • 70
141
  • 60
105
  • 50
59
  • 40
38
  • 30
28
  • 20
36
  • 10
17

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      • This festival favorite from China tells the touching story of a father whose oldest son leaves him. He remains in Beijing, raising his retarded son and running the local bathhouse. When the elder son ...