Shower (Xizao)

Dir: Yang Zhang

1999

*****

Written by Zhang Yang and a team of young scriptwriters, 1999’s Shower is a beautifully sentimental story that revolves around a family-run bathhouse in Beijing. It is hard to imagine but the initial feelings towards the completed feature were that it wouldn’t sell well and its release was delayed so that it could be toured around at film festivals in order to, hopefully, gather hype. People saw it for the great film it is and it was soon shown in over fifty countries, winning several awards along the way. The story begins with an elderly man called Old Liu (played by Zhu Xu) who runs and live in a traditional bathhouse for men in an old district in Beijing. He runs the bathhouse with his youngest son Liu Erming (Jiang Wu) who is mentally challenged. The bathhouse provides a variety of peripheral services, including haircut, massage, shaving, fire cupping and 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) returns home after leaving many years ago to seek fortunes in the southern city of Shenzhen. Now a successful businessman, Daming had received a postcard from Erming with a drawing of their father lying in bed. Thinking that his father had died, Daming rushed home, only to find it a misunderstanding. The father-son relationship between Old Liu and Daming are strained and full of resentment so 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 removal men begin to move old furniture out of the bathhouse, Erming furiously attempts to stop them 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. As an old nostalgic, I couldn’t help but be moved by the story. I’ve never been to a Beijing bathhouse, so this isn’t my nostalgia, but the message of dying traditions is universally obvious. It’s a sad story but also a celebration of sorts. It’s a warning from a story that couldn’t turn back, redemption is great but the sadness is always in its delay. The performances are wonderful and the direction and Zhang Jian Bieru’s cinematography are sublime. I will probably never experience the luxury of an old-style Chinese bathhouse but watching Shower is probably the next best thing. Sweet, sad, simple and full of irresistible charm.