CARRY ON GLAMPING

EVIL DOES NOT EXIST The Drive My Car director returns with an ambiguous award winner…

Acommunity’s rural idyll comes under threat in Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s new film (Ryô Nishikawa as Hana, pictured)

One of the most remarkable aspects of the 2022 Oscars was the success of Drive My Car. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour opus was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, and won the Best International Feature award. So how’s it been since then? ‘To be honest, my life hasn’t changed that much,’ says Hamaguchi. ‘In fact, if young Japanese directors today came over to see where I live, I think they’ll be disappointed in what they find.’

If this suggests a modesty to the 45-year-old writer/director, it also comes with a fierce ambition. His latest film, Evil Does Not Exist, was spawned from his composer Eiko Ishibashi, who also scored Drive My Car. She proposed to Hamaguchi that he shoot some images to accompany a live performance of her music – a silent short film ultimately titled Gift. From that, Hamaguchi’s feature emerged, as he built a story around some of those images.

‘When this opportunity came about, it felt like a different opportunity. And that’s something I wanted to do,’ he says. ‘I couldn’t rely on dialogue in the same way that I’ve always relied on with a lot of my films. So I really had to think about what visual motifs I can have at the centre of the film.’ A case in point is the wordless opening 10 minutes in the rural setting of Mizubiki Village, some two-and-a-half hours from Tokyo, as we’re introduced to odd-job man Takumi (Hitoshi Omika).

A likeable figure, Takumi is very much involved in a town meeting when a Tokyo company glides in with proposals to turn a patch of land into a ‘glamping’ site – something that seems replete with environmental problems. ‘This very small story reflects our society in some ways,’ says the director. ‘For example, the fact that it is a very sloppy plan, and yet it’s trying to be forcefully pushed forward… these things happen similarly in our lives.’

‘This very small story reflects our society in some ways’

RYÛSUKE HAMAGUCHI

Already Hamaguchi’s film has won the second-place Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival, and Best Film at the London Film Festival back in the autumn, which may come as a surprise to some. When the film bowed in Venice last September, some critics were baffled by the third-act conclusion – ‘an ending that pushes its ambiguousness to confounding lengths,’ noted The Hollywood Reporter.

For fear of spoilers, Hamaguchi understandably doesn’t want to discuss it too much, admitting it’s ‘confusing… hopefully in a good way’. But it rather typifies his daring approach, and why he’s now celebrated as one of world cinema’s brightest talents. ‘I don’t want films to be too chummy with the audience,’ he says. ‘Those are the kinds of films I like and want to continue to make.’

EVIL DOES NOT EXIST OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 1 MARCH.