Review of Evil Does Not Exist / 悪は存在しない, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Back in September and October 2023, I had the incredible opportunity of going to the New York Film Festival as a film critic. It was my second year going as a critic, as I still worked at MovieWeb then.

That was such a good gig, but I was forced to quit when I received news of being a Fulbright recipient. You can’t do a Fulbright and have other contracts/jobs at the same time, as it’s a violation of Fulbright rules.

Anyways, one of the movies I covered during this time was Evil Does Not Exist, and I even had a one on one interview with Ryusuke Hamaguchi. You can find it in the writing section of my website; I’ve come to admire Hamaguchi so much more after having the chance to interview him.

Well, I saw this movie many months before it had a US release, and I decided to revisit it once it was released in the States in May 2024. And man, this is such a interesting movie to me, especially knowing the context. It was originally a short film just about nature and collaborating with a musician, but Hamaguchi extended it into a full-length feature.

Let’s get into the review before I start rambling too much!

A story of nature and humanity, with the focus on one father and daughter duo.

This movie opens with the footage that Hamaguchi took for what was supposed to be the short film. It’s a slow move through the forest in winter, and the trees themselves are quite barren. This movie takes place outside a village called Mizubiki, and the locals understand the significance of the natural ecosystems.

Our protagonist is Takumi, who is a single father living with his young daughter Hana in the village. Gunshots can be heard randomly throughout the distance, which I interpreted as people going onto the land and killing animals as a different form of violating the land throughout the film.

Something is deeply wrong in the village though: develops from Tokyo, or the big city, are coming in and deciding how to turn the area into a real estate project.

Specifically, they want to do glamorous camping, or glamping, and have urban folk come in and get their natural retreat with all of the amenities. The developer also wants to rush the process, as pandemic-era subsidies are coming to an end. So they send two representatives, Takahashi and Mayuzumi, to the countryside to have a meeting with the locals.

They know that there is nothing going to change about, despite the local concerns, but they take questions anyways. It seems like everyone has an issue with how this is going to impact the environment, and Takumi specifically points out to them their septic tank plans will fail and put sewage into their groundwater.

The two people from the company are persuaded by the villagers’ pleas, but their boss tells them they need to do whatever it takes. They need to hire Takumi to persuade the villagers, and so they spend some time in their hour. Takahashi decides to stay within the village for the project, and Takumi has a long winded explanation about deer to them before the girl leaves.

Major foreshadowing here, as he mentions deer that are shot will become rabid and attack. We then hear another gunshot.

We learn that Hana is then missing, and the entire village comes together to try and find her. As dusk approaches, no one has found a trace of her, so Takumi and Takahashi venture deeper into the woods. They find Hana with a mother deer, but she has been shot. Hana is wounded deeply by the deer, and I presumed her to be dead by this point.

Takumi knocks out Takahashi violently, then leaves him in the woods as he takes Hana to safety. We then cut to the forest again, but with sounds of heavy breathing as darkness falls. I also assumed Takahashi was dead after that, as he crumbles to the ground.

Overall Thoughts

Lots of loaded metaphors throughout this movie. I saw Takumi as a deer in itself, as when he saw his daughter dead on the ground, he attacked Takahashi, despite them being friendly with each other before.

There’s also quite a bit of discussion about environmentalism. None of this would have happened if humans had not intruded on the natural world, which led to a series of consequences that are pretty devastating for everyone involved. Animals can’t be evil in this world, but humans can be.

It’s like a litmus test in some ways, and this is why I think Hamaguchi is a genius in some ways. I’ve been thinking a lot about this movie in the months since I’ve seen it, and I think there is so much to admire in it. The way he uses the little dialogue, how he expanded the musical shots. This is also based on a true story he read one time, too.

Go watch this one if you haven’t already and want to. It’ll be worth it.

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