Shower: Movie Review
Introduction
Shower(洗澡), a light-hearted comedy, is written by Liu Fen Dou, Cai Xiang Jun, Diao Yi Nan and Zhang Yang who is also the director of the film and starring Zhu Xu, Pu Cun Xin, Jiang Wu. The Cinematography is by Jian Zhang. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1999 and won the FIPRESCE Prize. Shower is only the second masterpiece directed by Zhang Yang and also the third production of Imar Film. Yet, it got a very high opinion of the cinema and, as a result, was nominated for numerous film festivals, including Seattle International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and San Sebastian Film Festival, where it received many awards.
Storyline
Shower is a straightforward comedy about relationships, human feelings and human spirit. It is a bittersweet, poignant, interesting yet emotional complex movie. The director juxtaposes modern and traditional culture to show a holistic view of today’s China to the audience. The backdrop of the story is set in a city in contemporary Beijing, a city on the make, with a dilapidated neighborhoods standing in the way of progress. The story is about an old man, Master Liu (Zhu Xu), who runs a traditional bathhouse there, with his younger son, Er Ming (Jiang Wu), who may be retarded or autistic while his elder son, Da Ming (Pu Cun Xin), who has been estranged from his father for many years, is a businessman living in Shenzhen, the economic centre of China, in the south.
The film opens with when Da Ming returns to the bathhouse from Shenzhen as he has mistaken the message of the death of his aged father from a cryptic postcard sent by his mentally retarded brother. The postcard shows a sketch of their father, Master Liu, lying on a slab with Er Ming sitting next to him. Thinking his father is dead or seriously ill, Da Ming hurries home to the traditional bathhouse that he worked at in his youth without further advance noticing his visit, but later finds that his father
Shower(洗澡), a light-hearted comedy, is written by Liu Fen Dou, Cai Xiang Jun, Diao Yi Nan and Zhang Yang who is also the director of the film and starring Zhu Xu, Pu Cun Xin, Jiang Wu. The Cinematography is by Jian Zhang. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1999 and won the FIPRESCE Prize. Shower is only the second masterpiece directed by Zhang Yang and also the third production of Imar Film. Yet, it got a very high opinion of the cinema and, as a result, was nominated for numerous film festivals, including Seattle International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and San Sebastian Film Festival, where it received many awards.
Storyline
Shower is a straightforward comedy about relationships, human feelings and human spirit. It is a bittersweet, poignant, interesting yet emotional complex movie. The director juxtaposes modern and traditional culture to show a holistic view of today’s China to the audience. The backdrop of the story is set in a city in contemporary Beijing, a city on the make, with a dilapidated neighborhoods standing in the way of progress. The story is about an old man, Master Liu (Zhu Xu), who runs a traditional bathhouse there, with his younger son, Er Ming (Jiang Wu), who may be retarded or autistic while his elder son, Da Ming (Pu Cun Xin), who has been estranged from his father for many years, is a businessman living in Shenzhen, the economic centre of China, in the south.
The film opens with when Da Ming returns to the bathhouse from Shenzhen as he has mistaken the message of the death of his aged father from a cryptic postcard sent by his mentally retarded brother. The postcard shows a sketch of their father, Master Liu, lying on a slab with Er Ming sitting next to him. Thinking his father is dead or seriously ill, Da Ming hurries home to the traditional bathhouse that he worked at in his youth without further advance noticing his visit, but later finds that his father