Evil Does Not Exist

Evil Does Not Exist
Japanese name
Kanji	悪は存在しない
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Aku wa Sonzai Shinai
Directed by	Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Written by	Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Produced by	Satoshi Takata
Starring	Hitoshi Omika Ryo Nishikawa Ryuji Kosaka Ayaka Shibutani
Cinematography	Yoshio Kitagawa
Edited by	Ryusuke Hamaguchi Azusa Yamazaki
Music by	Eiko Ishibashi
Production company	NEOPA Inc.
Release dates	4 September 2023 (Venice) 26 April 2024 (Japan)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Evil Does Not Exist (Japanese: 悪は存在しない, Hepburn: Aku wa Sonzai Shinai) is a 2023 Japanese drama film written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

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

"Deep in the forest of the small rural village Harasawa, single parent Takumi lives with his young daughter, Hana, and takes care of odd jobs for locals, chopping wood and hauling pristine well water. The overpowering serenity of this untouched land of mountains and lakes, where deer peacefully roam free, is about to be disrupted by the imminent arrival of the Tokyo company Playmode, which is ready to start construction on a glamping site for city tourists—a plan, which Takumi and his neighbors discover, that will have dire consequences for the ecological health and cleanliness of their community."

Cast

• Hitoshi Omika as Takumi
• Ryo Nishikawa as Hana
• Ryuji Kosaka as Takahashi
• Ayaka Shibutani as Mayuzumi
• Hazuki Kikuchi
• Hiroyuki Miura

Production

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.

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 will have its world premiere at Belgium's Film Fest Ghent in October 2023.

Release

Evil Does Not Exist was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 4 September 2023. Subsequent screenings were held at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and 2023 New York Film Festival. 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 is scheduled to be theatrically released in Japan on 26 April 2024.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 54 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Evil Does Not Exist stands on the battle lines between modern civilization and the natural world, offering a perspective that's as quietly measured as it is entrancing." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Awards and nominations