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). Da observes them running the bathhouse and later realizes his father's health is declining and their home district is slated for razing. 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. There are definitely scenes where it will give you some teary eyes and remind you of the nostalgic bygone days.The director did a great job in making a move about ordinary character lives interesting - captivating you from start to finish. No need for over-the-top acting or overkill action or extreme sci-fi/fictional stuff - just a simple but good family story.Grade A

If The Shower fails to touch your heart in some way? Yeah, you maybe wanna go down hospital there, get yourself one them EKG's, see if your heart still beats, not. Why? 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. Having watched it again recently, it's all the more poignant as the cancer of centrally-planned New World Odor efficiency spreads like a syphilis rash across the globe and devours every last bit humanity, including the oasis known as The Shower.You'll recognize The Shower's protagonist as one of the most expressive actors on the planet, who played lead in King of Masks. 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? And that's 'cause maybe you wanna go rent it, download it or whatever everybody's does their computers these days - which is not the case here at Casa d'Amplitron, where The Shower graces the below decks film library in respectable VHS format.You want hi-tech vapid entertainment? Go watch some machetes-for-machismo-morons film, something like that. Wanna see if your cardiac T-waves are still capable of breaking over beautiful stories of life, family, and friends? Go hit The Shower.Paul Vincent ZecchinoAristocrat of Film AuteursManasoviet Key, Florida13 September, 2010

This Chinese movie made me feel so many similarities with members of a culture I don't belong and are far from. In an almost Buddhist approach, the film helps one to relate to each character, and to the happiness of doing the simple routine things. All actors are brilliant, and Xu Hzu exudes kindness and wisdom, yet also vulnerable and mean. Er Min, the retarded brother, shows us that intelligence and wisdom are not equal, and that wisdom comes to and from the most disparate persons in this universe. A different China, this is far from the Chinese realism, yet, it has lots of humanity and realism of a different kind.Get it. You won't be disappointed.

How powerful and captivating simple quality filmmaking can be. This film tells it's tale with everyday scenes that manage to revel the poignancy hidden within. 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. So much of what these characters are going through is implied by the scene rather than spelled out in wordy dialogue. 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 older brother needed to say little, as he usually did, it was all there in that deadpan face of his! Beautiful cinematography, wonderful acting, great direction! Not to be missed!