Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The Hole opens on a new 35mm print (and first-ever NYC theatrical release) at Film at Lincoln Center on July 10. Get tickets: filmlinc.org/films/the-hole
Set on the eve of the 21st century, Tsai Ming-liang’s fourth feature turns a crumbling Taipei apartment block into one of cinema’s strangest and most tender end-of-the-world romances. Perennial muse Lee Kang-sheng (“the man upstairs”) and Yang Kuei-mei (“the woman downstairs”) are among the building’s last holdouts, refusing evacuation as a mysterious epidemic spreads outside and rain batters the city without end. When a plumber leaves behind an unfinished repair, the man’s floor opens into an accidental passage between two sealed-off lives, turning leaks, trash, pesticide, and petty territorial warfare into a strange form of courtship. Among the most disarmingly funny and cathartic entries in Tsai’s filmography, The Hole finds hope in a world that seems to be falling apart, breaking its deadpan plague scenario open with splendorous Grace Chang musical numbers and poker-faced slapstick. Returning to FLC for its first-ever dedicated New York theatrical release on a newly struck 35mm print, this 1998 vision of isolation remains uncannily, exhilaratingly prescient. A Big World Pictures release.
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The Hole opens on a new 35mm print (and first-ever NYC theatrical release) at Film at Lincoln Center on July 10. Get tickets: filmlinc.org/films/the-hole
Set on the eve of the 21st century, Tsai Ming-liang’s fourth feature turns a crumbling Taipei apartment block into one of cinema’s strangest and most tender end-of-the-world romances. Perennial muse Lee Kang-sheng (“the man upstairs”) and Yang Kuei-mei (“the woman downstairs”) are among the building’s last holdouts, refusing evacuation as a mysterious epidemic spreads outside and rain batters the city without end. When a plumber leaves behind an unfinished repair, the man’s floor opens into an accidental passage between two sealed-off lives, turning leaks, trash, pesticide, and petty territorial warfare into a strange form of courtship. Among the most disarmingly funny and cathartic entries in Tsai’s filmography, The Hole finds hope in a world that seems to be falling apart, breaking its deadpan plague scenario open with splendorous Grace Chang musical numbers and poker-faced slapstick. Returning to FLC for its first-ever dedicated New York theatrical release on a newly struck 35mm print, this 1998 vision of isolation remains uncannily, exhilaratingly prescient. A Big World Pictures release.
Subscribe: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=filmlincdotcom
Showtimes and tickets: filmlinc.org
Follow on X: http://x.com/filmlinc
Follow on Instagram: instagram.com/filmlinc
Follow on Facebook: facebook.com/filmlinc
