Hamaguchi always demands full attention and patience to unfold his stories. Movie requires effort in the beginning but rewards with it's quite yet powerful message.

Had to read online to get an idea of what happened, I think I was close cause of the themes it goes through but is is definitely up to interpretation. Though the buildup and plot could of been a little tighter to help the viewer. The setting and filmmaking was good.

Some nice shots and ideas, but very boring and pointless movie

I like that it's ecological messaging isn't sanctimonious as well as the score and cinematography but the movie feels a little incomplete and the runtime padded in spots.

A deeply flawed story with an evocative premise and great cinematography. But only a filmmaker with either half a brain, or who has never been a parent or around kids, would base their core climax on a father who allows his 8/9 year-old daughter to go for long walks in the woods by herself. Totally unbelievable and contrived. I suggest Mr. Hotshot Director learn a bit more about parenting before doing a film that involves a family again. Plus, the film veers from a gentle, introspective tone, to a dark, somber, threatening one in the blink of an eye in the final 10 minutes. Very, very unsatisfying.

Hamaguchi has proved himself the best director for the modern thinking audience, and his latest does not disappoint. Desperately painful as it confronts us with the evil inherent in the clash between humans and the environment, and desperately beautiful as it captures the rhythms and the poetry of a (mostly) unblemished forest.

this is not going to be most people's cup of tea. even if you loved Drive My Car, even if you are drawn to Japanese cinema as I am. there is a sense of dread from the very opening scene. and what the film delivers in the end is not just ambiguous. it is lousy. it is a carefully crafted film, but... I don't know....

Terrible movie, complete waste of my time. There were so many long and meaningless scenes and keep in mind that this is not a long movie. So there were very little scenes of substance. They made the ending extremely ambiguous which instead of being deep and mystical it caused the movie to end a severely disappointing note.

Evil Does Not Exist is exquisitely cunning, designed with an overt minimalism that deftly conceals its true nature until the very end.  The movie is haunting and uncompromising, with an underlying message that is impossible to shake.  Highly Recommended. https://detroitcineaste.net/2024/06/18/evil-does-not-exist/

The cinematography, and the score to this movie are both really great, compelling you into the world that the story takes place in. I really wanted to like this movie more than I actually did. The abrupt end sort of doesn’t really make sense either, even though it kind of does.

This was a tough one to follow… ambiguous and seemingly unintentional, I’m having a difficult time reconciling this 1h40 spent…

Not sure I'd call this heavy-handed. It's more pedantic to me in how Hamaguchi goes about trying to express the themes/ideas he had for 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘌𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵. Maybe I've seen so many movies, docs, and series where the main issue is a small, rural community is under the thumb of a an interloping agent/company/corporation that could cause potential damage, or even catastrophic results while the locals cry out against it, so Hamaguchi's approach was not as affecting as he may have intended. The acting is exceptional by all those playing major characters. Omika as Takumi stands out most, which is key since he is largely the central figure of the movie; like a conscience of the community alongside the village chief. But Takumi is a man of flaws; chief among those his forgetfulness and self-interested activities and how that all affects his young daughter, Hana. Nishikawa is wonderful as Hana, showing the sort of wide-eyed wonder toward nature as child can have. Visually, it's pretty stunning per the nature shots. As for the open-ended final scene, it did not work for me in the sense that Hamaguchi has more or less said he intended. I found it clumsy, with the order or events off, or a more telling aspect of either Takumi's human nature previously displayedneeded to pull it off more convincingly or logically. But I get the wounded animal attack reference from earlier and how it played out here. But to position Takumi's character in place of a 'gutshot' creature and have him act suddently without reason, and to choose that over Hana's safety, was a stretch for me I did not appreciate, even after a second viewing. There's much to appreciate here. Dialogue is strong, along with the acting. Tone and pacing are generally solid. 3.3 stars

this movie touched me in many ways. LOVED THE STORYLINE AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE Plot LOVED THE ACTING PARTICULARLY THE YOUNG boy and his interaction with the corporate entity imposing the building lot clamping site and the environmental impact to the streams. hat ran. downhill

Very slow, almost to make you think to stop watching it. There are long scenes of nothing even for five minutes. Could save 20 minutes without those scenes, expecting something to happen, but... Nada.

I loved Drive My Car, and I loved Perfect Days (another supposedly "slow" movie that was beautiful in its construction and flow) but seriously, Evil Does Not Exist had the feel of a high school project. All the techniques to influence our mood and senses were overdone: the abrupt scene/music transitions, discordant music.... The script was clumsy. <SPOILER AHEAD> And the plot. Just one tiny example - a single father who has *one* scheduled activity per day, picking up his daughter from school, does not regularly forget this task unless he is a terrible dad, and yet he is portrayed as a good, involved father. This film is definitely not comparable at all to "Drive". Next time I'll wait for a streaming release instead of buying a theater ticket for a Ryûsuke Hamaguchi film.

This is a movie that will challenge you and make you think. The underlying message, and they way is delivered is shocking and visceral. The cinematography also quite interesting in that it creates an emotional connection with the people and their surroundings at a very intimate level. That being said, although some praised the slow pace as a way to feel more connected with the flow of nature, I felt this choice was forced and detracting from the roader message. Some of the characters were also under-developed, including in my opinion the key protagonist, and the struggle between progress and tradition presented in an almost trivial way.

There is so much to like about this movie, the score, the plot, environmentalist v developers, and the incredible town hall meeting. The ending was a challenge and shows that the title is not to be taken except ironically.

Soooo slow. And yet.sooo ambiguous

Ryusuke did it again!! Really enjoyed this film as much as I did Drive My Car. The story, tempo, and cinematography were great!

Beautiful photography. Some interesting reflections on how greed and power trump good intentions and the environment. Boring dialogues. Far-fetched ending.