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The Hole (1998)

The Hole (1998)
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At the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, this Taiwanese-French drama won a FIPRESCI Award, given by international critics. Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang previously won top awards for his 1994 Vive l'amour (at Venice) and 1996 The River (at Berlin). High strangeness is evident in the tale, originally initiated as part of the French TV series of one-hour end-of-millennium dramas. As an epidemic spreads through Taipei, virus victims display odd symptoms. A man (Lee Kang-sheng) who runs a food store with few customers lives in a shabby building in a quarantined section, and a woman (Yang Kuei-mei) in the same building has a withdrawn existence. A plumber, checking a leak, makes a hole in the man's floor and leaves; the man then observes his neighbors through the hole. The film features four musical fantasy sequences that recall Hong Kong musical films of the '50s. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

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Starring:
Yang Kuei-MeiLee Kang-Sheng, (more)
Director(s):
Tsai Ming-Liang
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of The Hole

At the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, this Taiwanese-French drama won a FIPRESCI Award, given by international critics. Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang previously won top awards for his 1994 Vive l'amour (at Venice) and 1996 The River (at Berlin). High strangeness is evident in the tale, originally initiated as part of the French TV series of one-hour end-of-millennium dramas. As an epidemic spreads through Taipei, virus victims display odd symptoms. A man (Lee Kang-sheng) who runs a food store with few customers lives in a shabby building in a quarantined section, and a woman (Yang Kuei-mei) in the same building has a withdrawn existence. A plumber, checking a leak, makes a hole in the man's floor and leaves; the man then observes his neighbors through the hole. The film features four musical fantasy sequences that recall Hong Kong musical films of the '50s. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
95 mins

Complete Cast of The Hole


Director(s):
Tsai Ming-Liang
Writer(s):
Yang Ping-yingTsai Ming-Liang
Producer(s):
Carole ScottaCaroline BenjoPeggy Chiao
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    Member Reviews
     
    Donald A.

    its an interesting failure. First if you think its a cool horror end of the world thing from looking at the cover dont be decieved, this isnt really about the end of the world, its a statement on modern human relationships, particularly taiwanese modern culture or psychology. The plot is the relationship or lack of one with your neighbors, in this case upstairs/downstairs neighbors coming into contact through a hole dug into the floor/ceiling to find a water leak. Some scenes are excellent, and quite a bit of thought goes into it (why is the downstairs apartment flooding while the upstairs apt is bone dry, among other mysteries), but other portions are simply slow , and not in a good way. One last question: the film is dedicated to some taiwanes bubblegum music singer whom the woman fantasizes karaoking in the dilapidated halls of the complex, it seems a strange homage to this type of music if you are not being ironic.

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    Joy H.

    Tsai Ming-Liang is one of my favorite directors and I've read many glowing reviews of this movie but I think it feel short of my expectations. "What Time Is It There" and "The River" are his best efforts in my opinion. It's interesting to see his intrepretation of madness, and it is an interesting one at that, but I feel he didn't succeed in combining the madness with reality in a fluid way.

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    David H.

    My first from this director. Decent movie, but not honestly that impressive. Visually it was very well done and the mood was consistent but I thought that the story fell flat. The "intermissions" (as I came to call them) were tediuos.

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