The Hole is a 1998 drama

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

-musical

Musical film

The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

 film directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang

Tsai Ming-liang is one of the most celebrated "Second New Wave" film directors of Taiwanese Cinema, along with earlier contemporaries such as Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang...

. It stars Yang Kuei-Mei

Yang Kuei-Mei

Yang Kuei-Mei is a Taiwanese actress. She has had starring roles in Eat Drink Man Woman, Vive L'Amour and The Hole.-Career:Yang has received several awards for her acting...

 and Lee Kang-sheng

Lee Kang-sheng

Lee Kang-sheng is a Taiwanese actor, film director, and screenwriter. He has appeared in all of Tsai Ming-liang's feature films. Lee's directorial efforts include The Missing in 2003 and Help Me Eros in 2007.-Career:...

.

Plot

A strange disease hits Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 just before the turn of the new millennium. Despite evacuation orders, tenants of a rundown apartment building stay put, including shop owner Hsiao-Kang (Kang-sheng Lee).

One day, a plumber arrives at Hsiao-Kang's apartment to check the pipes. He drills a small hole into the floor, which comes down through the ceiling of the woman downstairs (Kuei-Mei Yang).

The hole never gets repaired, and this leads to some tension between the two residents.

Cast

• Yang Kuei-Mei
  Yang Kuei-Mei
  Yang Kuei-Mei is a Taiwanese actress. She has had starring roles in Eat Drink Man Woman, Vive L'Amour and The Hole.-Career:Yang has received several awards for her acting...
  
   - the woman downstairs
• Lee Kang-sheng
  Lee Kang-sheng
  Lee Kang-sheng is a Taiwanese actor, film director, and screenwriter. He has appeared in all of Tsai Ming-liang's feature films. Lee's directorial efforts include The Missing in 2003 and Help Me Eros in 2007.-Career:...
  
   - the man upstairs
• Miao Tien - the customer at market
• Tong Hsiang-Chu - the plumber
• Lin Hui-Chin - a neighbor
• Lin Kun-huei - the kid

Reception

The Hole was entered into the 1998 Cannes Film Festival

1998 Cannes Film Festival

The 51st Cannes Film Festival was held on May 13-24, 1998. The Palme d'Or went to the Greek film Mia aioniotita kai mia mera by Theo Angelopoulos.- Jury :*Martin Scorsese *Alain Corneau *Chiara Mastroianni...

. It was nominated for the Golden Palm award and won the FIPRESCI Prize (competition) "for its daring combination of realism and apocalyptic vision, desperation and joy, austerity and glamour." It also won three Silver Screen Awards at the Singapore International Film Festival

Singapore International Film Festival

The Singapore International Film Festival was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries...

 - for best Asian feature film, best Asian director, and best Asian actress.

The film has an 80% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.