The Hole (1998)

While never-ending rain and a strange disease spread by cockroaches ravage Taiwan, a plumber makes a hole between two apartments and the inhabitants of each form a unique connection, enacted in musical numbers.

Director:

Ming-liang Tsai

Writers:

Ming-liang Tsai, Pi-ying Yang

Stars:

Kuei-Mei Yang, Kang-sheng Lee, Tien Miao

7 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Kuei-Mei Yang	...	The Woman Downstairs
Kang-sheng Lee	...	The Man Upstairs
Tien Miao	...	A Shopper
Hui-Chin Lin	...	A Neighbor
Hsiang-Chu Tong	...	The Plumber
Kun-huei Lin	...	The Kid
Shiang-chyi Chen	...	(voice)
Daphne Han	...	(voice)
Bo-Chin Wei	...	(voice)
Jacques Picoux	...	(voice)
Chih-yen Yee	...	(voice)
Yi-Ching Lu	...	(voice) (as Hsiao-Ling Lu)

Storyline

A strange disease starts to affect people in Taiwan just before the year 2000. The authorities order everyone to evacuate, but some tenants of an apartment building stay put, including a shop owner who lives by himself. One day, a plumber goes to the shop owner's apartment to check the pipes. The plumber drills a small hole in the floor, which comes down through the ceiling of another apartment. The hole never gets repaired, and this leads to some tension between the shop owner and the woman who lives below him.

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Plot Keywords:

loneliness | art | apartment | hole | taiwan | 

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Taglines:

A search for intimacy in a world of disaster.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Musical | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Taiwan France

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

24 March 1999 (France)

Also Known As:

The Hole

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arc Light Films, Central Motion Pictures, China Television (CTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

The Woman Downstairs: Are you the tenant of apartment number 804? I'm your downstairs neighbor. The plumber will come and fix the hole this afternoon. Will you be home then?
The Man Upstairs: Maybe.
The Woman Downstairs: You have to. Or else it'll never get fixed.

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Connections

References Un Chant D'Amour (1950)

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Soundtracks

Wo ai ka li su
Performed by Grace Chang
Originally from the film Kong zhong xiao jie (1959)

User Reviews

Feelings,sometimes, can overcome silence

This movie, one of the best I've ever seen, talks about incommunicability. It does it plunging ourselves in a livid Taipei, stained in cold colors, where the rain falls incessantly; a DAMP world. It does it displaying us the story of two persons living in this world, a man and a woman. a coincidence, or the fate,links their existences, but they're not able to open one to the other with words. Characters are the mirror of the difficulty of our society concerning interpersonal relationships. An incommunicability that here is taken to the extreme limits. all the characters exchange only a few words during the movie, dialogues are nearly absent, and when some words are spoken they're often weak and empty, far away from describing people's real feelings. So, the progression of the story, the revelation of character's feelings is developed (brilliant idea!) by the musical digressions, only apparently meaningless, that speckle the movie. The proceeding of the sentimental event, and the drama of female protagonist, lead us to a splendid ending, heavily symbolic. A movie totally different from the usual, a clever realization by a great-talented director. PS. Forgive me for my bad grammar!!