Xizao

Plot synopsis:
An aged father known to everyone as Old Liu (played by Zhu Xu) and his younger, mentally challenged son Liu Erming (Jiang Wu) run and live in a traditional bathhouse for men in an old district in Beijing. The bathhouse provides a variety of peripheral services, including haircut, massage, shaving, fire cupping, even old-style pedicure, to a motley group of regular customers, many of whom are retired old Beijingers. The patrons usually spend their entire day, day after day, in the bathhouse, engaging in a game of Chinese chess or cricket fighting. As such, they have formed close bonds not only with one another, but also with Old Liu, who is manager, staff, mediator in squabbles, and marriage consultant all in one. One of the patrons is a man who sings 'O Sole Mio in the shower, but when he goes to sing it in public he loses his ability, until Erming provides him with a shower from a hose. Another patron is Mr. Zhang, whose marriage has been in trouble ever since his wife ran after a thief while naked, and Old Liu arranges a reconciliation by having the man find his wife in the bath. After the bathhouse closes in the evening, Old Liu and Erming go for their daily jog around the neighbourhood, after which they engage in a contest to hold their breath in water as they bathe. Even simple tasks such as cleaning up the bathhouse are tremendous fun for the duo, both of whom behave like little children at these times.
One day, Old Liu's elder son Liu Daming (Pu Cunxin), who left many years ago to seek fortunes in the southern city of Shenzhen, abruptly returns home. Now a successful businessman, Daming had received a postcard from Erming with a drawing of their father lying in bed. Thinking that his father has died, Daming rushed home, only to find it a misunderstanding. However, the father-son ties between Old Liu and Daming appear to be strained, and Daming plans to return to Shenzhen three days later.
When Erming accompanies Daming downtown to reserve a plane ticket, Erming mindlessly wanders off from the area and is nowhere to be seen. After a futile search, Daming returns home to his distressed father, who lashes out at him for not being able to take care of his younger brother. Old Liu laments that having already lost one son (referring to Daming), he cannot afford to lose the other. The next morning, however, Erming is able to find his own way home, to the relief of everyone. Having already postponed his flight, Daming decides to stay one more night.
It rains heavily overnight. While up on the roof fixing leaks, Old Liu catches a cold and falls sick the next morning. Daming volunteers to take over the work in the bathhouse, delaying his return once more. In the next few days, Daming stays on to help in the bathhouse. He even joins in the daily evening jog with his father and Erming. One evening, after coming back from jogging, Old Liu passes away peacefully whilst bathing in the bathtub.
Erming refuses to accept the reality of his father's death and insists on opening the bathhouse every day at the usual time. In the meantime, Daming is planning to bring Erming back to Shenzhen to live with him, but he is worried about his wife's reaction regarding the mentally challenged Erming. He decides to leave Erming in a mental hospital for a couple of weeks whilst he goes back to Shenzhen to make preparations. This is not received well by Erming, however, as he struggles to cope at the mental hospital after fighting with the hospital attendants. In response to the situation, Daming decides to bring Erming back to the bathhouse again and temporarily resume operations.
Meanwhile, the entire district is due to be demolished to make way for commercial development. As removalists begin to move old furniture out of the bathhouse, Erming furiously attempts to stop the removalists from moving out the furniture in an attempt to keep the bathhouse. Eventually, he is convinced by Daming to accept the reality of the situation. The film concludes with a group of old customers gathering in the bathhouse for the last time, removing old paintings and portraits from the walls. Simultaneously, Erming begins nostalgically singing the tune of O Sole Mio as a final farewell to the bathhouse.

Tags: comedy

Review:
On the basis of the preview I'd seen, I went to "Shower" expecting a sweet little comedy; what I found was a profoundly touching drama of family life told in some of the most lush photographic images I've ever been privileged to see.
One moment I'm here, the next I'm in a landscape from the past, just like that....I would not only strongly recommend this film, I would place it among the two or three finest films I've seen in my 60 years.By the way, a couple of years ago another Asian "comedy" was released in the United States as "Shall We Dance?" (Japanese).
It tells a simple story of a family in danger of falling apart as the encroachments of technology and an advancing society make the family-run business increasingly untenable.The acting is wonderful - though none of us in the west are likely to have heard of these actors, we should have long ago - they play their characters with honesty and reverence - these are flawed characters, each with major weaknesses, but with such utter humanity and kindness that it's impossible not to become engaged in the story.We need more films like this - we need more western filmmakers creating films such as this..
This beautiful story of an elder son coming home, and learning to love and be a part of all those things that he left home to get away from, is poignant and moving.
How nice to see a film about people who love each other and are NICE to each other.A funny, touching, heartbreaking, wonderful movie that will make you feel better about the human race, rather than want to retch..
How rare to see a film of this calibre, unafraid of tenderness and caring, but at the same time not maudlin or overtly heavy-handed...and particularly rare when this feeling is among men...in this case, a father and his two grown sons, one retarded, the other estranged and ambitious.
"Shower" is an story about loyalty, about the unstoppable advance of modern world in the detriment of rather traditional and more human ways of life.
A man forced to choose between his successful career in business, his big-city life, his wife, and his retarded young brother.
The actors are enormous, especially the one who performs the role of the retarded boy; and Yang Zhang makes a good job, easy, simple, letting the story just flow by itself.My rate: 8/10.
Almost all of the movie takes place in an old- time bathhouse, with the denizens supplying the humor, pathos, and emotional touches.
It's true as others have stated, how this film really makes it glaringly obvious how lost Hollywood is in it's special effects, overblown emotionalism and over the top climatic endings and have forgotten the essence of a meaningful story told with simple realism.
One aspect that I really enjoyed about the film was the contrast of the two brothers, one so very openly expressive in his childlike way and the other completely stoic but both able to evoke deep emotion.
The story of a man who comes home from his life in the city to his fathers bath house in a small Chinese village.
Talking about the story or the characters will not do them justice.So, I'll just tell you how much I enjoyed watching this movie and how touching and moving the experience was.
For any story, that is the highest form of praise.If you were moved by movies like The King Of Masks or Not One Less, then make sure you see The Shower.
I happened on "Shower" in the foreign film section of my local video store and passed it over several times since from its cover it looked like a farce or comedy.
"Shower" is the story of three(3) men, a father and two(2) adult sons, each coming to terms with life changes as the world around them also continues to change in modern China.
As with many "foreign" films, the Chinese culture itself is one of the most interesting facets of this movie.Beyond the fascinating characteristics of the local, Chinese color giving the setting to this story, is the difficult yet touching relationships between the men and a sole woman involved in the story, all set against the backdrop of a village bathhouse.The family's story moves from estrangement to understanding and made me glad I came to know these people.
A funny and touching story about a father and his two sons.
I had the privilege to see this movie at the Intenational Film Festival of Rotterdam.'Xizhao' or 'Shower' is a $200.000 lowbudget movie about a father and his 2 sons.
The father has a traditional bathhouse somewhere in a traditional Chinese village where local, mostly aged men, come to relax and to go bathing.
To this son the traditional village, the bathhouse and his 'retarded' brother seem strange and annoying, but this changes along the movie.Though the story may sound cheesy or cliche, it's not.
With really great performances, especially of the father and the 'retarded' son (sorry, I don't know their names) and a great story the movie was touching and funny at the same time.If you got a chance to see this movie do it.
A straightforward and simple description of local Chinese customs, by looking at the daily operation of a public bath, run by the old owner and his retarded son, when older son returns home, wrongly believing his father has died.
When old man dies, strong and loyal family ties make older son take charge, so public bath operation is not disrupted.
This is a touching Chinese drama, a story about Shenzhen businessman Da Ming (Cunxin Pu), who goes home to Beijing to see his father and mentally-handicapped Er Ming (Wu Jiang).
Therefore, Da must choose between his family and fortune.The acting was spot-on, expressing realism and drama; the growing relationship between the brothers Da Ming and Wu Jiang was particularly touching and will warm your hearts.The plot was solid and well-paced, touching on each aspect of the characters lives, all stemming from their beloved bathhouse and its magnet for the community.
I often felt troubled when people asked me to recommend some Chinese movies, not because there weren't any good ones, but because those good ones did not depict today's China.
However, the stories in those movies happened many years ago; and these years are the ones that have seen the most dramatic changes of a country in history.My trouble ended with the introduction of Xizao (Shower) in North America.
When economic development and new technologies menace thousand-year-old lifestyles, people, especially the elderlies, become ambivalent towards them.A country with an extraordinary history and tradition experiencing the most rapid development in the world, today's China can be a perfect set for many more good movies.
Although bathhouses like the one in the movie exist in many Chinese cities, you feel more amazed by the changes that China is experiencing when you know this story happened in a metropolis, right?If you want to understand today's China, watch this movie.
This is a film about family bonding, about the necessity to cherish traditions, about the advantages of long-held friendships, and about a public bath house in Beijing.
One cannot imagine what a sleazy wallow American film makers would make out of such a milieu, but director Zhang Yang obviously loves his characters and by the end of the film we have learned to do likewise--including the two old gents who treasure their cockroach fights, the shy stubby guy who belts O Sole Mio under the shower, and the main characters, the owner father and his two sons, one mentally challenged, one estranged; the film is perhaps predictable in its outcome, but who cares?
Because The Shower tells a simple story of family and dear friends in same manner that Hollywood did many years ago, yet has not for some time due to its standing infatuation with the gods of efficiency, PC, and the same old leftist drivel.The Shower is one of the sweetest, most powerful films to grace the screen here at Casa d'Amplitron.
Unless, that is, you were busy watching high-grossing sensible films from Hollywood whose themes concern proper subjects such as surfboard decapitations, exploding helicopters, and face-booted bimbos barking like rabid Teamsters at geek-voiced capons attired sensibly in black rimmed glasses and Gothwear for the Young Condemned.No, my review The Shower don't tell ya much, there, 'bout the it, see?
Director Yang Zhang, with the help of some very nice work by the three principle actors, Xu Zhu as the father, Master Liu; Quanxin Pu as the elder son, Da Ming; and especially Wu Jiang as the irrepressible and lovable younger son, Er Ming, spins a tale that will warm the coldest heart.The film starts with a man taking a shower in an automated booth in the middle of Beijing.
Tell a story about old men at the bathhouse where they get back rubs and massages, where they tell tall tales and reminisce about the good old days, where they can relax and play Chinese chess and stage cricket fights, where the Master is a spry and wise old guy and his assistant is his son, who may be retarded or autistic, but who does his job with glee and an infectious spirit of fun and good will.Enter back on the scene the older son, Da Ming, who is polished, well groomed and taciturn.
But then a crisis ensues and it is during this crisis that Da Ming sees the value of the natural, people-centered life that his father and his brother have been living.And so Yang Zhang reconciles the old and the new, and does so in such a charming manner that I will not object, especially since his style is so neat and so carefully expressed.
One of the nice things he does that I miss in most movies is the way he dovetails the subplots within the larger story so that they are resolved before the picture ends.
He founds that his father is still alive, as well as his old neighborhood and his father old business, the public bathroom.The movie centers around Da Ming's family, and how he has to learn the importance of his father's job, something he always had considered an old tradition that had to die soon.
Also, the movie explores his relationship with Er Ming, who is mentally challenged, and the problems of the small community and how the bathroom is a place that purifies not only their bodies, but also their souls.The two main themes of the movie, the family and the problems of progress, are incredibly well handled, and the movie never loses the point it is trying to make, both themes are very good developed and we get a glimpse of Chinese society and customs.The director, Yang Zhang, tells his tale in a simple way, letting the characters characters do the job.
Zhang has enormous potential, as he can tell a story without the aid of visual flare or camera tricks.The acting is outstanding in its naturalistic approach, everyone acts in a very natural way and it almost looks as if they were real persons being filmed.
The three lead characters give remarkable performances, and Wu Jiang as Er Ming surely steals the show.Even when the movie could had sticked to a patronizing "old days were much better" message, instead it takes an attitude of equilibrium, like saying that progress is good, and we must move on, but we must not forget where we came from, and keep an equilibrium between modern life and the traditions of old.An awesome, and touching film.
Almost the entire film takes place in a public bathhouse in China.
There are no fancy sets, explosion or glamorous people--only fine writing, acting and direction (Hollywood, take note!).An estranged son returns home when he believes his father is dying.
How their relationship changes and where the plot goes from there is exceptional and believable.I was happy to see that not every Chinese movie is an action picture (such as those starring Jet Li or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), as I don't particularly care for these frenetic films.
The Shower as well as Springtime In A Small Town are two wonderful examples of good Chinese films about PEOPLE!.
For a movie with a plot like this I would normally smell "tearjerker" in the first ten minutes and turn it off, but this was very well made, with emotional subtleties, great acting, and some genuinely funny moments.
The story of an adult son visiting his elderly father and retarded brother after a long separation appeared cliched at first, but it proved to be very touching and realistic.
The aspect I like the best however was the way that the bath house was more than just a background for the story.
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.Overall the film was very effective.
Want to watch a bunch of old Chinese men taking baths, a couple of dimwits, almost no women, bug fights and all with no huge stars, special effects, stunning costumes, great orchestration, big budgets, etc?
In spite of the film's touching and poignant story it remains severely handicapped and will likely have only limited appeal..
Not even hardened cynics can find any flaws in this wonderful setting.Master Liu's mentally handicapped son Er Ming is the second truly powerful character in the movie, coupled with his modern-life brother.
No, definitely not the perfect little life so often depicted in the totally artificial Hollywood movies but rather, the real life complete with real characters each with strengths and weaknesses just like real people in our lives and ourselves.The dynamics of all of these lives, intertwined within the walls of this bathhouse, and particularly its aged owner, are magnificent, heart touching and highly thought provoking.Sit back, relax, and be carried away into the simple and beautiful life.
And the bathhouse is a mere introduction into an intimate male Chinese community where a supposedly better-off son can come to terms with his alienated father and brother.
The affluent and estranged son comes home thinking his father is on his deathbed because of a postcard drawing by his retarded brother.
The Chinese filmmakers wanted to get their point across in such a gentle yet deliberate way that the film sags, at times, from redundancy.
The characters are a father who is very much Old China, an elder son who symbolizes the go getters of the new middle class, and a retarded younger son who lives with the father and helps him run an old-fashioned bathhouse populated by men of the father's generation.
The fascination of the movie for me is simply in how lives are lived in modern China and how universal the family relationships are..
This film was Xizao (US title: Shower), the story of an aging man who owned an old-fashioned bath house, who was simultaneously raising his mentally retarded son, Erming (infectiously delightful Wu Jiang).
He disregarded everything his father believed in: he was a serious young man who lead a modern life, and considered bath houses to be passe.
When Erming gets lost in town one day, he realizes how much his father and even himself, love him and rediscovers the importance of family.He also realizes that the bath house is not solely for relaxation: it is the refuge for several lonely men.
Although he faces a change of heart, the entire town will eventually be torn down.I thought this film was a beautiful portrayal of the magnitude of the love that a family feels for each other.
Although Mandarin Chinese, this film's message and issues (caring for a retarded brother, etc.) are universal.
By no means is this movie the greatest Chinese Cinema I have seen (the current winner is "Farewell My Concubine") but what it does, it does extremely well.The plot of the movie is the well-used "man who comes back to the small town he came from and makes amends with the family he tried to forget".
What is special about this movie is the utter simplicity in which the director and actors tackle the story and characters.
This is a movie about simple people and the simple facets of life, and the actors and director do a wonderful job of convening that.In the same way "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" left you hungry at the end of the film, so will you yearn for a bath at the end of "Shower.".
Poignant, touching, funny, a great film to watch.
Hollywood can make good films once in awhile, but they can never make a movie so good and simple as this.Rating 8 out of 10..
In the movie Shower, from mainland China's Xian Film Studio directed by Yang Zhang (Spicy Love Soup), this dichotomy of the new and the old is symbolized by the shower and the bath.
The shower is a fast convenience that takes water for granted while the bath and especially the bathhouse is a tranquil way of life.
Liu lives with his mentally slow son Er Ming (wonderfully played by Jiang Wu) who helps out with the daily chores.Shower starts off with an idea by bathhouse denizen He Zheng of an automated shower (reminds me of the automated restrooms in large cities like San Francisco or the suicide booths in Futurama) where you pay your money and get put through an automatic human wash that sprays soap, water and scrubs you to a healthy clean.
There is an emotional flashback scene where Liu talks about Er Ming's mother from the northern province and how much families had to sacrifice just to get enough water for the daughter to take a bath before her wedding day.
It is bittersweet, poignant, funny yet emotional complex movie I have watched several times.