The Hole is my first introduction to Tsai Ming-Liang’s work. I believe it to be a grand metaphor about the recesses of isolation; the water is the gradual descent into philosophical indifference, breaking everything down until you figuratively die. For most of the movie, the main characters experience life in a coldly lonely way. We rarely see characters in the same space as each other, let alone involved in interaction with one another. The water barrages the lower-floor apartment in a noxious and destructive way, causing the wallpaper to fall apart and be torn off. The upstairs neighbor sees and hears everything, yet stands helplessly as she enters the later stages of her affliction. It is only through him giving her a hand that she defeats this isolation, being pulled up out of her disheveled apartment and leading to her salvation. In a sense, it reveals the symbiotic nature of social interaction as a counterbalance to the infectious nature of prolonged isolation.
I wish I liked this movie more. The musical numbers in this movie were catchy and colorful, but they felt disjointed within the narrative personally.
