Evil Does Not Exist

is a 2023 Japanese drama film written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With a cast of non-professional actors, the film follows a single father who lives in a village that is disrupted by a real estate project and the consequences its development will have to their environment.

The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics. It was awarded Best Film at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival.

Plot

Extensive winter forest scenery opens the film. Widower Takumi lives with his eight-year-old daughter Hana in the peaceful Japanese mountain village of Mizubiki. He chops wood, smokes a cigarette, collects jugs of water from the forest stream, and occasionally hears gunshots, presumably from deer hunters.

In a community meeting, residents are confronted with a proposal to develop a glamping site. Takahashi and Mayuzumi, two developer representatives, introduce the project. However, the townsfolk unanimously voice their serious concerns about the consequences the site will have on their delicate water systems and scoff at the representatives' public relations tactics. Takumi and others tell them that the septic tank capacity is not large enough for the planned development, and that sewage will leak into the groundwater they tap from wells. The company is accused of only caring about profits and wanting to move recklessly fast in order to take advantage of limited-time pandemic subsidies.

Takahashi and Mayuzumi change their attitudes as they listen, but after reporting the outcome of the meeting to their boss, they are rebuffed and told to not change the septic system, but instead seduce Takumi with gifts and hire him as a caretaker for the camp. The pair drive back to the village as they chat about their online dating experiences and their disillusionment with their jobs. They chop wood and have lunch with Takumi. Takahashi decides to stay in the village to live there and learn all he can from Takumi. On a drive, Takumi mentions that while wild deer are normally not aggressive, a deer or its parent may attack if it is unable to run away. Another gunshot is heard in the distance.

Takumi's daughter Hana goes missing and the village community searches into the night for her. Takumi and Takahashi venture into the forest looking for her and eventually emerge into an open field. Hana is shown in the field approaching a deer and her calf, the latter of which has been gut-shot. Before Takahashi can run over, Takumi tackles him to the ground and chokes him unconscious. Hana is seen lying motionless in the field with a bloody nose before Takumi picks her up and runs off into the forest. Takahashi comes to, struggles to get up only to fall down again. The sound of footsteps and labored breathing are heard faintly over a visual of the forest as it fades to darkness.

Cast

* Hitoshi Omika as Takumi Yasumura, an "odd job man" in Mizubiki
* Ryo Nishikawa as Hana Yasumura, Takumi's daughter
* Ryuji Kosaka as Takahashi Keisuke, a male talent agency representative
* Ayaka Shibutani as Mayuzumi Yuuko, a female talent agency representative
* Hazuki Kikuchi as Sachi Minemura, Kazuo's wife and the co-owner of Mizubiki's local restaurant
* Hiroyuki Miura as Kazuo Minemura, Takumi's friend and the owner of Mizubiki's local restaurant
* Yûto Torii as Tatsuki Sakamoto
* Takako Yamamura as Yoshiko Kizaki
* Takuma Nagao as Tomonori Hasegawa
* Yoshinori Miyata as Akira Horiguchi, Takahashi and Mayuzumi's boss
* Taijirô Tamura as Ippei Suruga, the mayor of Mizubiki

Production

Development

Hamaguchi started working on the film in January 2023, with the intention of it being a 30-minute short film accompanied by a live score composed by Eiko Ishibashi, the production ended up getting lengthier as the shoot went along and Hamaguchi decided to turn it into a feature film with dialogue.

Hamaguchi was influenced by the work of Jean-Luc Godard, who had recently died. He and Ishibashi bonded over the "common language" they found in Godard, whose work they admired for its musical qualities. Hamaguchi said, "In some ways, it was a dimension that we had really set ourselves towards. I was thinking about how he used sound and images together. There are also some visual references to some of his work. That all said, fortunately or unfortunately, I think ultimately ''Evil Does Not Exist'' is a very different kind of film from the ones Godard made." The typography in the opening credits is reminiscent of Godard's work, a decision Hamaguchi made in the editing process.

The fictional town in the film as a composite of several villages Hamaguchi visited during an extensive research period for gathering ideas for the script. He attributes this research to his ability to write the script quickly in about a week. Production lasted from November 2022 to "around the start of 2023."

Filming

''Evil Does Not Exist'' was filmed in the border regions between Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures. The film was shot by Yoshio Kitagawa and graded by Ryota Kobayashi. Kitagawa utilized a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2 with older lenses by Nikon that introduced some graininess that Kobayashi found pleasant. Shots were illuminated primarily by natural light, which helped simulate the desired look of Kodak Portra 400 film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on 28 June 2024 through Drag City. It was mixed and mastered by Ishibashi's partner Jim O'Rourke, who also plays guitar on the soundtrack.

Release

In July 2023, it was announced that Hamaguchi had two new films scheduled for world premieres at the fall festival season: ''Evil Does Not Exist'' and ''Gift''; with the latter being the originally-intended version without dialogue with Ishibashi's live score and which had its world premiere at Belgium's Film Fest Gent in October 2023. ''Evil Does Not Exist'' premiered on 4 September 2023 at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it was selected in the main competition for the Golden Lion and was ultimately awarded the Grand Jury Prize.

It was also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2023 New York Film Festival and the 2023 BFI London Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Film in Official Competition. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in the 'Icon' section and was screened on 7 October 2023.

The film had its Japanese premiere at the Hiroshima International Film Festival on 26 November 2023. It was released in cinemas in Australia on 18 April 2024.

It was theatrically released in Japan on 26 April 2024, distributed by Incline. It was released in the UK & Ireland on 5 April 2024 by Modern Films, and in the US on 3 May 2024 by Sideshow/Janus Films and Canada on 10 May 2024 by Films We Like.

Reception

Critical response

In a review for ''The New York Times'', film critic Manohla Dargis wrote that the film is "visually unadorned, simple, direct" and that Hamaguchi "uses fragments from everyday life to build a world that is so intimate and recognizable...that the movie's artistry almost comes as a shock."

Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' gave the film four out of five stars, writing that "Hamaguchi's quietist, enigmatic eco-parable refuses easy explanations and perhaps it refuses difficult explanations as well" and that "it is arguably opaque and contrived, and will possibly exasperate as many as it intrigues." Bradshaw questioned some of the "compositional quirks" in the film and concluded that the film wasn't Hamaguchi's best work but that it is "presented with such calm assurance and artistry that it compels a kind of wistful, if uncomprehending, assent."

Accolades

References

External links

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, title = Awards for ''Evil Does Not Exist''
, list =
{{Asian Film Award for Best Film
{{London Film Festival Award for Best Film
{{Seattle Film Critics Society Award for Best Foreign Language Film
{{Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize

2023 films
2023 drama films
2020s Japanese films
2020s Japanese-language films
Japanese drama films
Films directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Venice Grand Jury Prize winners
Environmental films
Best Film, London Film Festival winners
Films shot in Nagano Prefecture
Films shot in Yamanashi Prefecture