EVIL DOES NOT EXIST (AKU WA SONZAI SHINAI) Luminaries

Following up on his widely acclaimed, Oscar®-winning film DRIVE MY CAR (AFI FEST 2021), Ryusuke Hamaguchi reins in a pensive, enigmatic eco-drama contemplating the tug and pull between humans, nature and the nature of humans in EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival. In the idyllic rural Mizubiki Village near Tokyo, Takumi and his eight-year-old daughter, Hana, live their moderate, simple lives. They take walks in the forest identifying trees, collect water from the natural springs and spend their evenings with the local udon shop owner. This peaceful routine is disrupted when an urban corporation arrives with plans to build a glamping tourist site, threatening the quality of life for the quiet community. Developed from a concept originally planned as a silent film accompanying a live music performance, composer Eiko Ishibashi’s capricious score carries a significant part, bolstering the film’s uniquely hypnotic and languid cadence. Yet, past its wistfully cozy scenery of Japanese rural life and Hamaguchian digressing conversations, the seemingly clear-cut case study of corporate gentrification slowly reveals a surprising, ambiguous threat of disquieting menaces. –Anna Li