‘The Hole’, by Tsai Ming-liang
Within the programming of
The Magnetic Terrace 2022. Vulnerable Critters
A musical tragicomedy about loneliness and isolation against an apocalyptic backdrop, where a strange disease causes infected people to scuttle away from the light like cockroaches and it never stops raining in Taipei.
| Duration: | 1 hour 30 minutes |
The Hole, directed by Tsai Ming-liang. Taiwan, 1998. 95’
The 21st century will begin in seven days. Somewhere in Taiwan the rain never ceases; a mysterious disease grows to unimaginable proportions, and the government declares a quarantine, ordering everyone to evacuate. But some don't want to leave. In a building, a man is woken by the sound of his doorbell ringing. It is a plumber, come to fix a leak; but instead of solving the problem, he drills a fairly large hole in the floor. This gives the man a chance to get to know his downstairs neighbour, a woman who dreams of singing and dancing in someone’s arms.
Tsai Ming-liang (Malaysia, 1957) graduated from the Drama and Cinema Department of the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan in 1982 and has worked as a theatre producer, screenwriter and television director in Hong Kong. The films of this Malaysian-Taiwanese artist, which revolve around the theme of alienation and are characterised by their slow pace and scant dialogue, have earned international acclaim. Vive L'Amour (1994) won the Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice Film Festival; The River was awarded the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival; The Hole received the FIPRESCI prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival; and The Wayward Cloud garnered the Alfred Bauer Prize and the Silver Bear at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.
