Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi made historical past along with his Oscar-winning “Drive My Car”. For his follow-up, he has retreated into nature.
“Evil Does Not Exist”, which obtained its world premiere on the Venice Film Festival on Monday, has once more impressed critics with its story of a city-based company threatening a pristine rural village with a tourism challenge.
The film happened when composer Eiko Ishibashi requested Hamaguchi to shoot footage within the distant area for some reside performances.
It was well-timed for the director after the maelstrom round “Drive My Car”, which turned the primary Japanese movie nominated for Best Picture on the Oscars in 2022 and received Best International Film.
“I really didn’t want to do anything for a while after the Oscars, but… this felt like something I could do,” the director advised AFP in Venice. “It’s not necessarily pressure that I felt — I just really needed a break!”
Not feeling certified to simply shoot summary photographs, Hamaguchi determined to write down a narrative.
“I figured if she was asking me I should just do something that is true to myself so I started writing a script and making a film,” he stated.
“I’ve only really lived in urban areas,” he added. “Because I’m a city person I can talk about what it’s like for city people to enter these natural environments.”
The result’s a gently-paced, however in the end gripping and even stunning movie.
The Guardian referred to as it “an enigmatic eco-parable… teetering on the edge of the uncanny”.
The Hollywood Reporter’s critic stated the “slow-burn drama builds its own hypnotic, changeable rhythms” and that the unusual ending was like “a collision of disturbing dream and reality”.
That ending has left many on the pageant scratching their heads, and Hamaguchi admits it baffles him, too.
“I’m not entirely sure whether I like this kind of ending or not,” he stated. “But when I’m writing a script, I’m always interested in making sure it is not boring to me. This ending just naturally came out of me. There’s something there that perhaps I can’t necessarily say in words but that feels right to me.”
What he likes most is exhibiting the complexity of his characters.
“This is usually how I depict people — where it’s not necessarily black and white between evil and good,” he stated. “I think I’m often depicting people who perhaps do a terrible thing and yet there are actions and reasons behind it. And I think that’s something really important when I’m directing actors as well.”
“Evil Does Not Exist” is amongst 23 movies competing for the highest Golden Lion prize in Venice, to be selected Saturday.
© 2023 AFP