Review of Shower

Introduction

Shower is a touching tale from the director of Spicy Love Soup, set in booming China – a place where modern progress is fast overtaking traditional values. Businessman Da Ming represents the new Western way of life – wealthy, adaptable and always working. However, his father, who is master of a bathhouse in rural China, opposes this new ‘fast food’ culture. He has lived there all his life, looking after his other son, the retarded Er Ming.

Shower follows the events following Da Ming’s most recent visit, concentrating on the relationship between father and son, progress and tradition, and New China and Old China.

Video

Shower is presented in its original 1.66:1 widescreen anamorphic form. Although this is a foreign film made on a rock-bottom budget – usually a guarantee of poor video quality – the picture is actually rather good. The colours are spot-on and there is a consistently high level of detail throughout the film with only a little grain showing.

Audio

The stereo track is in Mandarin, and is accompanied by English subtitles. Although there is minimal use of stereo effects, the dialogue is clear and the track free from hiss.

Features

Only one extra here – not that I think that this is a film that would benefit from a packed DVD. Cast & crew interviews lasts 20mins, and are subtitled. These interviews provide us with a detailed-enough insight into the making of the film in the absence of a documentary or commentary.

Conclusion

Just to show you don’t need a huge budget to make a great film, Shower was made on a budget of only $200000 but is nevertheless excellent. The storyline is simplistic yet very touching, and is backed up by good performances. Chinese actor Wu Jiang, playing the retarded son of the family, creates one of the most believable and touching portrayals of mental illness I have seen in a long time. The DVD is a good release, and has even avoided the almost inevitable bare-bones release foreign arthouse films receive. Highly recommended.