Evil Does Not Exist

is a 2023 Japanese drama film written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics. It was awarded Best Film at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival.
== Plot ==
Widower Takumi lives with his young daughter Hana in the peaceful village of Mizubiki, where they and the other residents are confronted with a new real estate project and the consequences its development will have to their pristine ecosystem. The greedy developers want to build a glamping site, and want to move fast in order to avail themselves of limited-time subsidies. The village occasionally hears unknown gunshot noises in the distance.
Two young public relations PR people, Takahashi and Mayuzumi, brought in to persuade the local townspeople host a meeting, at which Takumi and others tell them that the septic tank capacity is not large enough for the planned development, and when the snow melts, sewage will be leaking onto the village. Takahashi and Mayuzumi change their attitudes as they listen, but on reporting the outcome of the meeting to their boss, they are told to hire Takumi to help persuade the villagers. The pair decide instead to stay on in the village. On a drive, Takumi tells the pair about deer behavior. He says that while wild deer are normally always passive, a gutshot deer will rabidly attack to defend their young. Soon after, another gunshot is heard in the distance.
Takumi's daughter goes missing, and strange things happen, in which it appears that the natural world has responded to the crisis, creating parallels in nature. The village community works together to try and find Hana, but are unsuccessful. Takumi and Takahashi venture deep into the forest and, as they come out of the other side, find Hana alongside two deer. The mother deer has been gutshot. A flashback reveals that Hana tried approaching the two deer, but the injured mother rabidly attacked Hana, critically wounding her. When Takahashi tries to approach the collapsed Hana, Takumi rabidly attacks him, and knocks him out. Takumi picks up Hana and runs off with her body, and the sound of labored breathing is heard over a visual of the forest until it audibly fades away.
== Cast ==
*Hitoshi Omika as Takumi
*Ryo Nishikawa as Hana
*Ryuji Kosaka as Takahashi
*Ayaka Shibutani as Mayuzumi
*Hazuki Kikuchi
*Hiroyuki Miura
== Production ==
Hamaguchi started working on the film in January 2023, with the intention of it being a 30-minute short film accompanied by a live score composed by Eiko Ishibashi, the production ended up getting lengthier as the shoot went along and Hamaguchi decided to turn it into a feature film with dialogue.
== Release ==
In July 2023, it was announced that Hamaguchi had two new films scheduled for world premieres at the fall festival season: Evil Does Not Exist and Gift; with the latter being the originally-intended version without dialogue with Ishibashi's live score and which had its world premiere at Belgium's Film Fest Gent in October 2023. Evil Does Not Exist was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 4 September 2023. It was ultimately awarded the Grand Jury Prize
It was also screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2023 New York Film Festival and the 2023 BFI London Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Film in Official Competition. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in the 'Icon' section and was screened on 7 October 2023.
The film had its Japanese premiere at the Hiroshima International Film Festival on 26 November 2023. It was released in cinemas in Australia on 18 April 2024.
It is scheduled to be theatrically released in Japan on 26 April 2024, distributed by Incline. It will be released in the UK & Ireland on 5 April 2024 by Modern Films, and in the US on 3 May 2024 by Sideshow/Janus Films and Canada on 10 May 2024 by Films We Like.
== Reception ==
===Critical response===
 The Telegraph awarded the film four stars out of five, writing that "It is a gripping conclusion to a fraught study of a community besieged by the modern world and determined to resist it, whatever the cost."
===Accolades===
Award 	Date of ceremony 	Category 	Recipient(s) 	Result	
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 	3 November 2023 	Best Film 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 	3 November 2023 	Jury Grand Prize 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 	3 November 2023 	Best Director 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 	3 November 2023 	Best Screenplay 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Asia Pacific Screen Awards 	3 November 2023 	Best Cinematography 	Yoshio Kitagawa 	 	
Asian Film Awards 	10 March 2024 	Best Film 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
Asian Film Awards 	10 March 2024 	Best Director 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Asian Film Awards 	10 March 2024 	Best Screenplay 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Asian Film Awards 	10 March 2024 	Best Editing 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi,
Azusa Yamazaki	 	
Asian Film Awards 	10 March 2024 	Best Cinematography 	Yoshio Kitagawa 	 	
Asian Film Awards 	10 March 2024 	Best Original Music 	Eiko Ishibashi 	 	
BFI London Film Festival 	15 October 2023 	Best Film 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
Chicago International Film Festival 	22 October 2023 	Gold Hugo 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
IndieWire Critics Poll 	11 December 2023 	Best Films Opening in 2024 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
International Film Festival of Kerala 	15 December 2023 	Suvarna Chakoram for Best Film 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
Montclair Film Festival 	29 October 2023 	Fiction Feature 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
San Sebastián International Film Festival	30 September 2023	Lurra - Greenpeace Award 	Evil Does Not Exist	 	
Venice Film Festival 	9 September 2023 	Golden Lion 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Venice Film Festival 	9 September 2023 	Grand Jury Prize 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Venice Film Festival 	9 September 2023 	Premio CinemaSarà - Special Mention 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Venice Film Festival 	9 September 2023 	Edipo Re Award - Ca'Foscari Young Jury Award 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Venice Film Festival 	9 September 2023 	Premio Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
Venice Film Festival 	9 September 2023 	FIPRESCI Award 	Ryusuke Hamaguchi 	 	
== External links ==
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== References ==
Category:2023 films
Category:2023 drama films
Category:2020s Japanese films
Category:2020s Japanese-language films
Category:Japanese drama films
Category:Films directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Category:Venice Grand Jury Prize winners
Category:Environmental films