The Hole
Tsai Ming-liang, 1998, 95 min

Introduced by Hope Rangaswami

The year 2000 is days away, and Taiwan is inundated with rain. The relentless downpour hardly matters, as much of the population has evacuated, fleeing a virus that causes people to behave like bugs. Among the few who remain are two lonely tenants (Lee Kang-sheng and Yang Kuei-mei) of a dilapidated apartment building. When a plumber leaves a gaping hole in the wall that separates this pair of strangers, they develop an unusual connection defined by both tension and longing. Set to songs by the Hong Kong pop star Grace Chang The Hole is interspersed with vivid musical interludes which become an outlet for unspoken feelings and fantasies.

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Screening as part of Strange Encounters programme