Skip to main content

Evil Does Not Exist

4 May 2024

In the Playhouse

Cinema

Japan | 2023 | Japanese | Drama

The winner of the Venice Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, Oscar winning director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s eagerly awaited follow up to Drive My Car is a profound eco-parable that takes place in the regional outskirts of Tokyo.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi crafts a gorgeous eco-fable.

Time Out

In Harasawa, a tiny village located deep in the forest, single father Takumi and his eight-year-old daughter Hana live a simple life surrounded by pristine lakes, mountains and roaming deer. Their quiet lives are interrupted when agents from a Tokyo urban development company visit the town proposing a 'glamping project' - a resort for city vacationers looking for nature experience but not keen to get their hands dirty. When Takumi and the townsfolk's warnings that the development will pose a threat to the delicate ecological balance of the area are ignored by the agents. It becomes apparent the lives of not Takumi and Hana, but all the area's inhabitants will change. 

Featuring a staggering finale that will spark debate long after the credits, Evil Does Not Exist is a quiet and thought-provoking masterpiece about the delicate balance between humanity and nature. 

Presented by Sydney Opera House

Trailer

Cast and credits

CREDITS

Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Screenplay Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Cinematography Yoshio Kitagawa

CAST

Hitoshi Omika as Takumi

Ryo Nishikawa as Hana

Ryuji Kosaka as Takahashi

Ayaka Shibutani as Mayuzumi

Other information

You may also like

SFF: Deeper + Q&A

5 Jun 2025

The hero of the 2018 Thai cave rescue, Dr. Richard “Harry” Harris, attempts the world’s deepest dive in Jennifer Peedom’s (Sherpa, SFF 2015; Mountain, SFF 2017) enthralling doc.

  • Cinema

SFF: Went Up the Hill + Q&A

5 Jun 2025

Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) star in this haunting, wholly original tale of grief and possession set in remote New Zealand.

  • Cinema

SFF: One to One: John & Yoko

6 Jun 2025

In this astonishing documentary by Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald, the rock royalty duo let loose onstage at their historic “One to One” concert and let their hair down at home in NYC.

  • Cinema

Checking availability