Evil Does Not Exist (PG)

The winner of the Venice Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, Oscar winning director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s eagerly awaited follow up to Drive My Car is a profound eco-parable that takes place in the regional outskirts of Tokyo.

In Harasawa, a tiny village located deep in the forest, single father Takumi and his eight-year-old daughter Hana live a simple life surrounded by pristine lakes, mountains and roaming deer. 

Their quiet lives are interrupted when agents from a Tokyo urban development company visit the town proposing a 'glamping project' - a resort for city vacationers looking for nature experience but not keen to get their hands dirty.

When Takumi and the townsfolk's warnings that the development will pose a threat to the delicate ecological balance of the area are ignored by the agents. It becomes apparent the lives of not Takumi and Hana, but all the area's inhabitants will change. Featuring a staggering finale that will spark debate long after the credits, Evil Does Not Exist is a quiet and thought-provoking masterpiece about the delicate balance between humanity and nature. 

Cast: Hitoshi Omika, Ayaka Shibutani, Ryûji Kosaka, Rei Nishikawa

Director: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

★★★★★ "Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's drama about a mountain village threatened by a new development is a haunting depiction of the gulf between capitalism and environmentalism." LITTLE WHITE LIES

★★★★ "A complex and mysterious drama" GUARDIAN

★★★★ "A gorgeous eco-fable" TIME OUT

★★★★ "Will have you pondering long after it has ended" CINEVUE

★★★★ "It gets under the skin and lingers" SHADOWS ON THE WALL

★★★★ "A beautiful and meditative collaboration between director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and composer Eiko Ishibashi, one that takes its time and derives its power from this soulful entwining." HEYUGUYS

★★★★ "This film is a contemplation on our relationship with nature and the ecology of a forest as seen in the small rural village in Japan." AGE OF THE GEEK