The Hole

In Taipei there are only seven days to the year 2000, the rain just keeps pouring, a mysterious plague makes people act like roaches, quarantine zones are everywhere, and even the most alienated urbanite dreams dance numbers from 1950s Hong Kong films. Such is the end of the millennium as pictured by Tsai Ming-liang in this part-musical, part-sci-fi exploration of modern isolation, environmental catastrophe, and the failure of communication. The film’s apocalyptic Blade Runner atmosphere fits surprisingly well with Tsai’s auteurist vision of societal and emotional collapse, as does its pathetically realistic musical numbers, inspired by the films of popular 1950s songstress Grace Chang.