by Linda Kay

English Title: The Hole

Directed by: Tsai Ming-liang

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: As an unknown epidemic sweeps through areas of Taiwan, some of the residents of the affected neighborhoods refuse to leave, causing them to live in ever increasing squalor with fewer utilities and resources. Among these are a man (Kang-sheng Lee) who lives in the apartment above a woman (Kuei-Mei Yang), their only connection being a hole in his floor that looks down through her ceiling.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): The man owns a food stall in an abandoned marketplace which he continues to open to service those still in the area. He also takes pains to feed a tortie and white stray cat with cans of cat food which he simply leaves strewn about after they are empty since there is no place to put garbage anyway.

As the cat feeds, the man pets her gently. The cat pauses a moment after hearing something nearby then resumes eating.

Moments later the cat is shown again, sniffing at a couple of the empty cans.

After closing up his market the man offers the cat yet another can of cat food.

Purr Blurs: In a later scene, the man is walking through the market area and two different cats scramble across the walkway in front of and behind him as he approaches another man lying crouched on the floor.

The crouched man turns out to have the disease and so government officials arrive to fumigate the area. The man is told to evacuate because of the dangerous fumes and he is carrying the cat with him as he makes his way past the workers.

Unfortunately the cat either scratches or bites the man and is dropped. The man tries to catch the cat but she scurries away. We do not know the fate of the cat but in a later scene the man is calling for her in the market but she never comes.

Final Mewsings: Even during end times cats will still be of comfort to us.

Many thanks to Celia for letting us know about the cats in this film.

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