"Evil Does Not Exist" -- Movie Review

 

During the first full week of the 61^st New York Film Festival, I attended the U.S. Premiere of the new Japanese drama, “Evil Does Not Exist”. 

Synopsis

When a corporation seeks to build a “glamping” site in a rural area, will the residents who oppose it be able to prevent its construction?

Story

Harasawa is a small rural village in Japan where Takumi and his daughter Hana live.  Takumi earns a subsistence living doing a wide variety of odd jobs for the other residents of the town; much of it includes chopping wood for the fireplace and carrying buckets of water from the nearby well.  As pastoral and bucolic as all may seem to an outside observer, the peace is soon intruded upon by Playmode, a Tokyo company that hopes to construct a glamping site for city residents who seek to temporarily escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  While a potentially great opportunity to increase Playmode’s revenue, it doesn’t have quite as positive influence on the village’s citizens. 

After the company holds a meeting with the residents of Harasawa, the townspeople are not at all shy when it comes to expressing their opposition to this plan.  For one thing, the glamping site will have dire ecological consequences for the area; currently, deer meander about the surrounding vicinity – and if their source of sustenance evaporates, their mere ability to exist becomes uncertain.  Another problem has to do with the health and well being of the locals.  With the plan including using nearby lakes and well water for internal plumbing at the glamping site, this has the potential of making the villagers sick. 

Once the corporate representatives report the inhabitants’ feedback to their management, they are instructed to return to the village and this time, to instead meet with people one-on-one to convince them that in the long run, this glamping site will only be to their benefit.  Since Takumi seems to have been the leader – not to mention the most vocal in his obstruction to this project – they figure that it only makes sense to start with him, given that he seems to have a great deal of influence with his neighbors.  Their discussion gets interrupted when Hana is now missing, perhaps lost in the woods somewhere.  Will they be able to find the girl and resolve their issues?  

Review

“Evil Does Not Exist” is certainly a compelling idea for a story, but the film somewhat falls apart at the end; it is slightly ambiguous and appears to come from out of nowhere.  There’s very little that foretold the conclusion so it gives the impression that the filmmaker didn’t know exactly how to end the movie, so he just threw something together for an ending that is unclear and has a bit of a shock factor.  If you can overlook the finale, then it might be worth a look; otherwise, given the rather uneven climax, then maybe hold off.  That said, the “country folk vs. the corporation” is definitely a worthwhile topic – but here, deserved a better wrap-up.

The extensive nature scenes, along with those of chopping wood, grow a bit weary after a while (unless, of course, you are from a rural community and can deeply connect with that lifestyle).  There is also a long scene that’s a car ride with two of the people representing the corporation seeking to build the glamping site; while this certainly gives a bit of insight and background to these characters, it’s something of a detour and slows down the forward momentum of the story almost completely, which does not serve the movie well.  While “Evil Does Not Exist” is well-intentioned, it is flawed.   

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi through an interpreter; Hamaguchi said that the frequent focus on the trees in that area give a perspective; being raised in that environment, the little girl does not think that evil in fact does exist.  He hoped to provide tension by playing the narrative against the title.  His goal was to be emotionally evocative without being manipulative.  Hamaguchi explained that he would cut abruptly to put distance between the sound and vision in the film.  The film was a two year process, collaborating with the composer he worked with on “Drive My Car”.