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Evil Does Not Exist

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s new film
Hi Gloss Entertainment
by
ABR Arts 15 April 2024

Evil Does Not Exist

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s new film
Hi Gloss Entertainment
by
ABR Arts 15 April 2024
Ryô Nishikawa as Hana (courtesy of Hi Gloss Entertainment)
Ryô Nishikawa as Hana (courtesy of Hi Gloss Entertainment)

Something illusory lurks in the films of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Characters encounter each other under false and mistaken pretences; layers of performance mount and interact; memory intrudes and falters. In the Japanese director’s latest, an environmental fable that won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, the ecosystem of a small village is threatened by a Tokyo business’s plan to establish a ‘glamping’ site in the region. The company is deceptive about its self-serving intentions, which can only disrupt the fabric of the residents’ lives. There is a careful balance to the environment, one that – through loops and ghostly motifs – seems to be at risk because of encroaching violence.

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