The Black Hole

Please note the film does not have English dialogue or subtitles!

A drab autumnal apartment building in a suburb of Tallinn is the kind of place where you don’t even say hello to your neighbours. In their own ways, the lonely residents come face to face with danger, the supernatural and personal sore points.

Middle-aged siblings Sirje and Maret long for a move abroad and a rich husband, but the opportunity that comes their way is to participate as volunteers in the research of rich, penis-mouthed space aliens. A woman who fled an abusive relationship to a bodybuilder seems to perceive a giant, growling spider scurrying around her new apartment. A basement-dweller tries to break away from his overprotective mother and finds his way into the arms of a neighbour belle. In all three stories, inner fears and suspicions stand in the way of a happy ending. The dark but beautiful pictures complement the expression.

First-time director Moonika Siimets has something to say about the loneliness and attitudes of people living in isolation. Based on short stories by Andrus Kivirähk, the film intertwines three separate stories in the spirit of Amores Perros or Magnolia, but with Roy Andersson-esque laconic black humour and a touch of Spielbergian intergalactic adventure.

Paavo Ihalainen (translated by Moritz Müller)