Writers: Lea Čok Rajčič, Dejan Babosek and Marko Plantan
Director: Dejan Babosek
Professional thieves Mia and Kevin (respectively Lea Čok Rajčič and Marko Plantan who wrote the movie along with director Dejan Babosek) are unaware of the advice that if you’re stuck in a hole you should stop digging. They are their own worst enemies, constantly creating self-inflicted problems due to astonishingly poor impulse control.
The technique used by the thieves is unpleasant. Kevin ingratiates himself with, and later seduces, single prosperous women and, while he is wining and dining his conquests, his partner Mia robs their empty houses. However, Kevin cannot control his sexual appetite and has already shown signs of arousal while voyeuristically spying on their latest victim, Ema (Darja Krhin). When Mia catches Kevin and Ema embracing she loses her temper and batters the hapless victim to death.
A remote forest provides a possible place for disposing of the body but the thieves bicker while digging a grave and fail to notice Ema is not dead only stunned and has fled into the woods. Their pursuit is hindered by Kevin being unable to resist a patch of hallucinogenic magic mushrooms and Ema realising she has no option but to fight for her life.
Hole shows signs of budget limitations. Apart from the villains and victim the only other character is a busker. Restaurant scenes are shot in close up to avoid showing other diners or waiters and Ema seems to be the sole person commuting to work. A lack of experience is apparent with the performances occasionally moving towards self-consciousness rather than confidence.
Making the best of the limited resources overhead shots reveal the lush beauty of the woods providing stark contrast with the gory events taking place. The location allows a touch of irony as one of the villains becomes distracted by the scenery thereby leaving themselves open to attack.
Director Dejan Babosek seems unsure if the film is a horror movie or a comedy-thriller. At times Hole becomes a parody of a ‘video nasty’ in which a victim reaps gory revenge upon attackers. Ema transforms herself into Wolverine by binding nail scissors between her fingers to become do-it-yourself claws.
The film is more a collection of ideas than a cohesive whole. There are elements of broad comedy with Mia becoming distracted by Ema’s collection of sex toys or a hallucinating Kevin chatting with a toad. But, like the characters in the film, the director cannot resist going too far- breaking any tension by using a lengthy standoff between Ema and Mia to pay tribute to Sergio Leone.
Although Hole is a short film it feels padded as if the running time has exceeded the plot ideas. The limited background information on the characters allows little emotional development. The opportunity to show Ema evolving from a sharp-dressed business executive into a figure of vengeance is lost as the establishing sequence simply concentrates on her lust for Kevin and there is no sense of outrage on her part that she has been betrayed by someone to whom she felt attracted. It is hard to take seriously a laboriously extended scene of Mia’s howling grief for her fallen colleague as their relationship was not that convincing in the first place.
Hole is a film where more restraint and less self-indulgence might have resulted in a better movie.
Hole is screening at the Raindance Film Festival from 18-27 June.
