EVIL DOES NOT EXIST (12A)

In Drive My Car director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s enigmatic new drama, a rural community in harmony with the natural environment faces the threat of change. Single parent and odd job man Takumi, keenly attuned to the local flora and fauna, lives with his small daughter Hana in a forest close to the peaceful village of Mizubiki, an area of outstanding natural beauty. When a development company proposes to set up a substantial glamping site there, it meets strong resistance from the villagers. But the film is much more nuanced and ambiguous, darker and more mysterious, than a simple struggle between country and city, between ecological values and rampant exploitation.