AllMovie

It's a familiar tale: The disaffected son with a more "modern" outlook returns to his home to confront his old-values parent and a sibling who has stayed loyal to the parent. What gives Shower its freshness (no pun intended) is the backdrop: contemporary Beijing, a city on the make, with old neighborhoods standing in the way of progress. Liu and his mildly retarded son, Erming, run an old-fashioned bath house, not a trysting spot, but an old men's refuge where water is the commodity that soothes the body and soul. Water serves many roles in the film, including artistic lubrication for an aspiring opera singer. This is a gentle fairy tale of a film: a trio of thugs invade the bath house but are talked out of their mission by Liu, the streets of the decrepit neighborhood are clean and safe enough for late-night jogging by Liu and Erming, a sexually impotent employee is given therapy when Liu allows the man's wife access to the bath house for a late-night tryst. Shower feels like a cross between Rain Man and Barbershop, but its distinct setting trumps the predictability of its story line.