Movie Review: Shower

I watched a pretty good movie last night, so here ’tis, a review for the 1999 Chinese movie, “Shower”. From IMDB summarizer jhailey:

Shenzhen businessman, Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he thinks his father has died. He finds his father hard at work at the family’s bathhouse (the false message was a ruse of Da’s mentally-handicapped, exuberant brother, Er Ming, to get Da home). Da stays a couple days, observing his father being social director, marriage counselor, and dispute mediator for his customers and a boon companion to Er. Da is caught between worlds: the decaying district of his childhood and the booming south where he now lives with a wife who’s not met his family. When Da realizes his father’s health is failing and the district is slated for razing, he must take stock of family and future.

The movie opens up with an impressive sequence displaying a sort of showering autowash, quite similar to what you might drive your car through for four bucks with gas. “The future of bath houses”. It’s unusual to me, an American with American sensibilities, that these places still operate. They are few and far between here in the states, and generally are used for less honorable purposes. But it’s this sense of “otherness” that gives the movie a part of its charm. I’m just astounded by the fact that there are people that can use chopsticks properly and efficiently. But enough of that, on to the movie.

The focus of the movie is Da’s strained relationship with his father and his brother. Er Ming had sent a crayon drawing of him standing next to his sleeping father, making Da believe that his father was dead. His father quickly figures out that this is the reason for his visit. Da feels ashamed of his father’s occupation, thinking it to be a relic of the past, and of his brother. He later admits to not telling his wife that he has a brother. However, he comes around to his family, realizing that the bathhouse is a center for the community, and that his father is really important to those around him. His father mediates differences between two friends who compete in regular cricket fights (just what it sounds like), helps a young man who owes money to a loan shark (another difference between the movie and what I’m used to, when the tough guys threaten harm upon the debtor, the father stands in their way and tells them to get out. I have a hard time imagining the elderly being that respected here), and helps a man who’s marriage is falling apart.

There are lots of humorous moments in the movie, the aforementioned cricket fights, a chubby fellow who always sings “O Sole Mio” at the top of his lungs during his shower, and Er Ming’s childlike fascination and enthusiasm lend to some great scenes. Overall, the movie comes across as very touching, without being schmaltzy, which often happens with movies of these types. The only thing I can really ding this movie on is the subtitles. Occasionally the translation seems a little rusty or stilted, as if perhaps the meaning was conveyed, but not as well as it could have been done. This is a problem that can be troublesome for a lot of foreign films, unfortunately. However, it doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyability of Shower, so I would recommend renting it.

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