The Hole

This is the movie I really like very much ,which was seen recently.Maybe,the tempo is a litter slow,and no dazing edit.But this film has its own flavor,tasting special and a litter bitter.Main scenes are just two apartment,downstairs and upstairs.But thanks to the hole,which makes this film so wonderful.It connects the whole space and characters' activities.I think this is very smart and intelligent plot design.so many things,which later happened to the man upstairs and the woman downstairs,are the sensible surprises given by the hole!

Disease,which is called Taiwan fever something, is spreading in this district.Government orders all the residents live in that district to move out and to other places the sooner the better.So some people who do not want to move out live a shady and restricted life like rats.They are limited in their narrow spaces.Even in this case,but for there is a hole leaking water,two neighbors will not say a single word to each other.And even in this case,the communications between the man and the woman are merely about leaking water.Tsai ming-Lang utilizes a litter hole to break out the limitation of space and stimulate two people's relation.But he has no idea to make two people dispel the strangeness feeling hidden in the button of the heart.

In modern society,not only are there walls that are used for buildings not easily being flying over,but also there are obstacles existing in people's hearts preventing them helping and communicating with each other.

"You cannot survive on rainwater alone."

So intones an unnamed government official at the beginning of The Hole, addressing the obstinate residents of an unnamed apartment building, who refuse to move out of their homes even though their area has become overrun by a mysterious plague that causes people to behave like cockroaches (and then die off, of course). The words take on an irony when we see that, in this apocalyptic world, rain never stops falling and the apartments' residents struggle to keep leaks from destroying their remaining possessions.

There's not much to be said about plot here - a plumber visits a man because the woman below is complaining about leaks, and leaves a hole in the floor behind. The man above and the woman below take turns blocking up the hole and tearing away the other person's efforts to do the same - both of them seem loath to give up this one human connection.

It IS their only human connection. The woman below lives in utter seclusion, mopping up the floor and stopping up leaks in a pale imitation of a life. For all intents and purposes, she's a cockroach already, hiding in a dark, dank hole. The man above goes to his store every day, although his only customers are a starving cat and a confused old man whose favourite brands no longer exist. They go about their lives as though nothing were amiss, living quite apart. The rest of the apartment seems inhabited, but nobody stirs. Doubtless they're all also sitting in their little holes and trying to live their little lives.

Here, Tsai is brutally satirizing the increasing lack of communication between human beings; even in the face of the end of the world, people remain isolated in their own little bubbles. This message was clearly prophetic, because the 2000s have come and people are living more apart than ever before; The Hole aims to unveil the absurdity of day-to-day life.

It's also worth noting that there are four musical numbers that begin at unexpected moments. A woman dances and sings in gaudy clothes and with loud instrumentals playing in the background. In one such scene, she and the man she pursues dance around and around as the traces of a fumigation rise up from the stairs and envelop them. These moments alone in the film do not resemble human behaviour; ironically, they're the only ones that make sense. The roaches' compulsion to hide, too, makes sense. It's human nature that's the absurdity.

The whole world is falling prey to a lethal disease, and rain never stops pouring down : nevertheless, in this atmosphere of nightmare, a man and a woman discover that they are neighbors, thanks to a hole in the floor of the man's apartment. They fall in love : at least, all would not have been lost. Although this wonderful film expresses the loneliness and the weakness of human being, there is also some room for hope, in the shiny singing scenes.

Excellent film from the Taiwanese master. It's a fairly pessimistic film, in the form of a post-apocalypse tale. The slowness and darkness are interrupted by musical scenes and wonderful songs. This film is quite disturbing (especially the scene where the actor vomits which, I am sure, is 100% real), but makes you think a lot about our society, about the consequences of climate change, and our individual behavior as humans, our ability to communicate (or not). This is very telling, especially nowadays with a world under surveillance, an ultra-connected world which distorts our deep human nature.

Tsai Ming really creates a powerful contrast between the crumbling virus infested world and the musical numbers that are nothing more than manifestations of hidden romantic desires from the protagonists...mostly hers, given that she is the one singing all of them.

But like any film that leaves the viewer to figure out what the author wanted to convey, it's hit or miss. Even if it captured me for a minute or two, I felt that the work involved in getting to know this film doesn't really pay off. It's ultimately so niche that it is going to be appreciated for its exotic and quirky nature and not a universal truth everyone can identify with.

I will look for other films from this director. Maybe I will get more out of others. Goodbye Dragon Inn sure was one of them.