An excellent, warmer, gentler, kinder Chinese film, and a special case. It was made neither as a State project or with foreign moneys, but with funds raised within China by its American producer. Chinese cinema is a force to be reckoned with nowadays. Others, including exports, have historical themes or at least deal with the past. It is unusual for us to see works on the human condition today, including about tradition and modernism.
Shower opens with just that, a shower.
In a busy downtown street of the modernized southern region of Shenzen, a man presses a button to enter a booth the size of those portable potties used in construction sites or crowded public gatherings. This opening sequence of the film is by itself worth the cost of a theater ticket. I would like to apply for an importing license. The Chinese never had it so good. But the scene, while wonderfully funny to foreign eyes as well as an impressive sample of Chinese technology, is also a serious, symbolic element of melding the old and the new.