Review of Evil Does Not Exist (2023)
Seen in 2024.
At the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Tokyo talent agency sends two of its lowly office workers to an idyllic Northern village to present their plan for a new “glamping” facility. Local residents are openly skeptical.
A Japanese R.M.N. (2022) about nature, not racism.
The ending brings it down. In an interview with Polygon, director Hamaguchi Ryūsuke explained his intention, which is that Takumi attacks Takahashi for the same reason that the deer attacked Hana. At least the first attack happens much earlier. That doesn’t make sense, neither psychologically nor in how it’s presented. It’s a ploy to get people talking about the movie.
That’s a shame, because the movie is very good up until they reach the noodle restaurant, which is where it goes pastoral. Just like the strange ending isn’t as good as R.M.N.’s, its town-hall meeting is also not as good as R.M.N.’s, but it’s still fine work. The dyed-blonde young man with the low crotch provides manga-style comic relief at that meeting, mainly because his mode of speech is untranslatably rude.