Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases


Shower (1999)

Director: Zhang Yang

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

It's a bit disconcerting that it starts with its most amusing scene - a daydream vision of the bath-house of the future as a kind of carwash for humans - but Zhang's wry lament for the public baths of yesteryear is fresh, funny and sad enough to survive playing its trump cards too early. The elderly Mr Liu (Zhu) runs the dilapidated Qingshui Bath-house in Beijing, offering baths, showers, body scrubs, aria practice and a sense of community to men of all ages. His retarded son Erming (Jiang, brother of the great Jiang Wen) is a loyal helper; his elder son Daming, embarrassed by the family business, has gone off to get rich in the Special Economic Zones down south. The characters, twists and sub-plots are all straight out of soap opera, but Zhang marshalls them with enough skill to make the whole a credible reflection of modernisation and loss in present-day China.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

Cinema food: the ultimate survey

Cinema food: the ultimate survey

Find out everything you always wanted to know about cinema food, but were afraid to ask.

The week's new films reviewed and rated

The week's new films reviewed and rated

Two '80s re-imaginings are this week's big cinema releases, but don't miss Gruff Rhys's travels in Patagonia

Gruff Rhys on Penguins, Patagonia and Folk Rock

Gruff Rhys on Penguins, Patagonia and Folk Rock

The lead singer of Welsh indie band Super Furry Animals discusses his debut film feature, ‘Separado!’

Cinema's 50 greatest flops, follies and failures

Cinema's 50 greatest flops, follies and failures

Time Out presents our list of cinema's most spectacular follies, most saddening flops and most unbearable failures

The Illusionist: trailer preview

The Illusionist: trailer preview

Watch the trailer for Sylvain Chomet's long-awaited follow-up to 'Belleville Rendez-vouz'

Why make a film about Serge Gainsbourg?

Why make a film about Serge Gainsbourg?

Nina Caplan remembers the bawdy life and times of France's great pop icon and human chimney, Serge Gainsbourg, ahead of new biopic 'Gainsbourg'

Hard talk with Oliver Stone

Hard talk with Oliver Stone

The director of 'JFK' and 'Wall Street' talks to Wally Hammond about the US elite, Chávez, Bush and Nixon

Why Christopher Nolan is not the new Stanley Kubrick

Why Christopher Nolan is not the new Stanley Kubrick

Tom Huddleston explains why the director of 'Inception' hasn't yet scaled the great heights of Kubrick