2000 by – (Program Four)

Omnibus films, in which various directors contribute short pieces on related subject matter, are often a precarious thing, seeming better in theory than in actualization. 2000 Seen By … is the exception that proves the general rule, a group of seven short films by international (mostly white, male, European) filmmakers who were each given funding to make hourish-long movies about the millennium for European television. The films are being presented in Austin over the course of two weeks in four separate programs of double bills. As a collection, the series presents a whirlwind introduction to seven distinctive filmmakers, who present a variety of angles on the upcoming century shift. Program 3 showcases one 95-minute film, but it may be the most amazing film of this series. The Hole by Tsai Ming-liang, a Malaysian living in Taiwan, presents a broodingly apocalyptic and thoroughly original view. One week into the new century, the rain won't let up and a mysterious disease has become epidemic. Residents are quarantined, and basic services are curtailed. A leak in one man's apartment into the dwelling below causes a plumber to come by, tear a hole in his floor, and leave without fixing the problem -- or the hole. Though the neighbors do not communicate, they use the hole to peek at each other, at first with hostility but then with something much more indefinable. The downstairs neighbor fantasizes herself in elaborate musical numbers from Hong Kong movies of the Fifties (themselves reinterpretations of American movies). By the time you depart the closed, uncompromising world of these Taipei residents, you'll feel moldy from all the rain and doubtful about the fate of human relationships. The film is quite an achievement. Program 3 contains The First Night of My Life by Spaniard Miguel Albaladejo and The Wall by Belgian Alain Berliner (Ma Vie en Rose). The First Night of My Life is a humorous story about New Year's Eve, 1999 and a series of misunderstandings that separate the characters. Everyone's plans for the evening take a different course. The Wall is another New Year's Eve story about conflicts in Brussels between the Flemish and the Belgian French. Set against a backdrop of magical realism, Berliner tells a political and geographic story in very personal terms. Parts 3 and 4 will screen August 13-19. ¶Program 3: The Hole (Tsai Ming-liang): 4.0 ¶Program 4: The First Night of My Life (Miguel Albaladejo): 3.0 ¶The Wall (Alain Berliner): 3.0