Shower (movie)

In the prologue, a well-dressed businessman walks up to a building, along the front of which a row of doors and electronic terminals stretch. After payment the machine measures its height, weight, determines the fat content of the skin. A man enters a small dressing room, gets undressed and walks into an automated shower that works like a car wash, with jet splashes of water, soap and the buzzing of cleaning rollers ...

The old man Liu (Zhu Xu) is the owner of a small old traditional bath for men in one of the old districts of Beijing. He is assisted by his younger, mentally ill son Liu Ermin (Wu Jiang). In addition to baths, they provide many additional services, including haircuts, massages, and shaving. Most of their clients are elderly locals who spend the whole day here, playing Xiangqi and dice, having fun with cricket battles . Everyone has a long-established relationship both with each other and with Old Man Liu, who is a friend for them, a servant, a judge in petty squabbles, an adviser in matters. The content of its bath - the meaning of life for father and son. For example, one of the guests, while taking a shower, perfectly performs the Neapolitan song " 'O sole mio ", but has difficulty at the local vocal competition. Everything changes when Ermin brings him a familiar attribute - a shower watering can.

The Old Man has one more, the eldest son Liu Daming (Pu Quan Xin), who left many years ago to look for a better fate in the south of China in the city of Shenzhen . Suddenly he, now a successful entrepreneur, returns home, believing his father is dead. As it turned out, he received a postcard from his younger brother, on which he clumsily painted his father, who was lying with his eyes closed. The misunderstanding was resolved, but the relationship between father and elder son remained tense. Damin plans to return to Shenzhen in a couple of days.

Damin and Ermin go to the city center to buy a plane ticket. The younger brother suddenly disappears. After fruitless searches, Damin returns home to his father. He pounces on him with accusations of lack of attention to the unhealthy brother. The next morning, however, Ermin returns home. Damin decides to stay one more night. In the evening it is raining heavily. Once under it, Old Man Liu falls ill. In the morning Damin is called to help his brother in his work. This goes on for several days. Soon, while bathing in the bathroom, Old Man Liu quietly dies. Ermine refuses to recognize the reality of his father’s death and opens a bath every day at the usual time. Damin, on the other hand, plans to take his brother to Shenzhen, but he is worried about his wife’s reaction to his brother’s mental problems. He decides to leave Ermina in a psychiatric hospital to fly to Shenzhen and make the necessary preparations. Plans fail after the very first skirmish of Ermin with the orderlies. Damin decides to return to the bath and temporarily resume work.

Soon, local authorities begin to demolish the old district, freeing up space for new buildings. The workers come to the bathhouse and begin to carry out the old furniture. Ermin furiously tries to stop them, but Damin convinces him of the reality and the inevitability of what is happening. A few old customers are going to the swimming pool for the last time. Ermine diligently displays the melody " 'O sole mio ".

• Zhu Xu - Old Man Liu
• Pu Quan Xin - Liu Daming, eldest son
• Wu Jiang - Liu Ermin, youngest son

The American critic Roger Ebert mentions that most of the Chinese films he knows about are dedicated either to his exotic past or to the controversial politics of recent history. The same film, on the contrary, touches absolutely everyday questions that are understandable to anyone outside the social system surrounding it. Particularly marked by Ebert is the scene of the altercation of participants in the cricket battles about the use of doping and, undoubtedly, episodes of the performance of the Neapolitan “O Ole mio” ^[3] . The New York Times columnist mainly sees the following image, which characterizes the difference in the worldviews of the father and the eldest son. While Old Man Liu does everything manually, transforming an ordinary household procedure into a ritual and psychotherapy session, Demin is inclined to use automatic shower cabins akin to car washes ^[4] .

San Francisco Chronicle critic Edward Gutmann finds another interesting character. He believes that the ancient bath is for older people in the same way to escape from the rapidly changing reality, as for Old Man Liu and his youngest son, regular diving under water to practice breathing retention. While highly appreciating the play of the three main actors, Gutmann nevertheless believes that many of the conflicts in the picture are simplified, and his general mood is too sentimental ^[5] . Russian critic Alexander Strelkov, generally supporting this point of view, calling the tape sentimental and traditional, and oppositions banal, makes the reservation that such oppositions are "close to any eastern heart." He also compares "Souls" with the Soviet lyric comedy " White Dew ", where the patriarchal structure perishes under the excavator's bucket ^[1] .

• 1999 Toronto Film Festival - FIPRESCI Award (Yang Zhang).
• 1999, San Sebastian Film Festival - OCIC Award and Silver Shell for the best director, nomination for the Golden Shell (Yang Zhang).
• 1999, Thessaloniki International Film Festival - the main prize "Golden Alexander" and the Audience Award (Yan Zhang).
• 2000, Seattle International Film Festival - Golden Space Needle for best director (Yang Zhang) and Golden Space Needle for best film.
• 2000, Rotterdam Film Festival - Audience Award (Yang Zhang).
• 2000, Sputnik Award - nomination in the category of best film.
• 2000, Changchun Film Festival - Grand Prix of the jury "Golden Deer" and the best supporting actor (Wu Jiang).
• 2000, the National Council of Film Critics of the USA - a special nomination "For high cinematic excellence"
• 2000, Beijing Student Film Festival - Jury Award for Best Actor (Wu Jiang), Student Choice Award for Favorite Actor (Pu Quan Xin) and Favorite Movie.
• 2001, Hong Kong Film Awards - nomination in the category of the best film of Asian countries.

• " Shower ” on the Internet Movie Database  
• "Shower" (eng.) On the site allmovie