When Virtual China reviewed Zhang Yang's "Shower" last November, no one expected the film would go on to pick up nine prizes at five different international film festivals, including Best Film and Best Director awards at the Seattle International Film Festival this month.
Zhang Yang himself had no idea that foreign audiences would go so far in exalting his film.
"We hadn't imagined such a response," said Zhang as he sat for an interview in Sony's New York headquarters, overlooking Manhattan's East Side. "We thought of China as our main audience, so I guess you could say we were not expecting this."
Zhang's mainland China producer-at-large was Peter Loehr, who backed the film and arranged for Sony Pictures Classics to release it on July 7 in New York and Los Angeles, and then in Seattle and San Francisco on July 14.
"Shower" is the story of a man, Daming, who returns to his home after many years to spend some time with his aging father and his mentally challenged brother. Together, the father and brother run an old-fashioned bathhouse in Beijing. Daming had been living in Southern China's bustling city of Shenzhen, where he was focused on making money, and it is early-on revealed in the film that he only came back to Beijing because he had misunderstood a hand-drawn postcard from his younger brother Erming. He had thought their father was dying.
The scenes are filled with a healthy dose of standard drama-school "tension," which is no surprise considering that Zhang, now 33, graduated in 1992 from the prestigious Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, where Stanislavsky is worshipped.
"The film talks about emotion, and by that I mean family emotion -- the feelings between father and son, the feelings between people," said Zhang, who first made a name for himself in China with "Spicy Love Soup," which was also produced by Loehr.
"These kinds of emotions are something that everyone experiences, and that anyone should be able to feel a connection with."
It's not only by pulling their heartstrings that Zhang wins over audiences at home and abroad. Like any successful director other than Krysztof Kieslowski, Zhang believes the most important requirement of a film is that it be entertaining.
"First, a film needs to look good, otherwise who will come to the theater and watch it?" asked Zhang rhetorically, adding that "Shower" has been number two at the box offices in China.
But unlike the films of his highly-marketable peer, the director Feng Xiaogang, Zhang makes films that are a great deal more than eye candy.
"A film should also convey a director's ideas, such as his view of society, or his outlook on life," said Zhang, who finds many Hollywood films to be "too commercial."
In China's highly stratified film industry, many of the recent greats have been classified as either "fifth generation" or "sixth generation," with Zhang Yuan ("Mama," "East Palace West Palace") heading up the latter group. Zhang Yang is a little more cynical about these hokey titles.
"I wouldn't be able to tell you what generation I belong to," he said. "It's all the creation of critics anyway. Some say I'm sixth generation, some say seventh, some even say I'm in the 'newcomers' generation."
His films differ from the hoary fifth generation films of Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige such as "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Farewell My Concubine," Zhang said, because he prefers to deal with urban lifestyle and realistic settings.
His next film will be about a family helping their son get off drugs. Zhang said they are considering casting the film with ordinary citizens rather than professional actors.
While Zhang has a clear idea of the kinds of films he wants to make, he admits that young filmmakers in China don't work together as much as they could.
"Everybody, especially young filmmakers, find it very difficult to succeed in this business," he said. "So many people are just scrambling to get their own things done and to realize their opportunities. They might not necessarily have time to go listen to other people's ideas or talk to people about their own ideas. Actually, this way is not very good."
