After a breakout 2021 that saw a double feature’s worth of brilliant Japanese, arthouse cinema (Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) Ryûsuke Hamaguchi was effectively crowned the international arthouse director to aspire to, and with his newest offering, Evil Does Not Exist, he reasserts that he deserves the title. His newest film follows in Hamaguchi’s motifs common throughout his past work with long conversations being common, and possessing a level of complexity that extends beyond the text. Evil Does Not Exist may also have his most textually complex ending to date.

The main premise of the film comes from a situation that Hamaguchi was experiencing first hand while deciding on his next film, and it involves a company buying land amongst a village, Mizubiki, where the residents live a ecofriendly lifestyle where they all rely on the natural spring water to survive and thrive. When the real estate company presents the citizens with their proposal to add a glamping facility to their village, dozens of concerns are aroused most of which revolve around the cleanliness of the spring water.

After meeting with the village, presenters Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani) realize that they have empathy with the villagers and their demands, a fact which doesn’t sit well with their manager or consultant. However, instead of creating an adversarial relationship there, the two set off on a task given their boss’s advice and then he and the supervisor are never heard from again. The film instead focuses on how these two acclimate to their temporary residency.

The closest thing the film has to a protagonist is Hitoshi Omika as Takumi, a single father to the 8-year-old Hana (Ryo Nishikawa) and self proclaim odd-jobs man. Through him the audience is introduced to the village and the way of life it entails. He is also the lens through which Takahashi and Mayuzumi open up to the holistic way of living that is common in Mizubiki.

Omika was a tremendous actor considering this was his first time ever in front of a camera. His passive enjoyment of ever day life in the woods, chopping wood, filling up containers of spring water shows a lot of restraint that it takes some actors years to learn. He comes at most things with a laissez-faire attitude that builds an aura of mystery around him and his performance. It is possible that no professional actor could have play this role as it give so little that everything has to be inferred.

Without getting into spoilers, the ending must be remarked upon because it designates a change in Hamaguchi’s direction. While Hamaguchi has previously always worked in the immediate for his film making, the ending on Evil Does Not Exist sees him playing with time and reality in a way that leaves the viewer begging for a second watch in order to fully comprehend what happened.

Hamaguchi once again delivers a masterful film which’s subtext will keep the viewer busy for days processing everything the director wanted to say. Phenomenal acting. a score it is almost criminal I did not dive into detail about, and tight, measured direction leads to one of the best films in the first half of the year.