Evil lurks everywhere in first trailer for Evil Does Not Exist

There are few things more bone-chilling than the real-life evils set upon our planet and its people each and every day. This is the type of horror Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi is contending with in Evil Does Not Exist, the stirring and eerie follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2021 film, Drive My Car.

Winner of the Silver Lion Grand Jury and FIPRESCI Awards at last year’s Venice International Film Festival, Evil Does Not Exist is a beautifully shot meditation on humanity’s “mysterious, mystical” relationship with nature, the cascading effects of corporate greed, and how fucking dumb glamping is.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis:

In the rural alpine hamlet of Mizubiki, not far from Tokyo, Takumi and his daughter, Hana, lead a modest life gathering water, wood, and wild wasabi for the local udon restaurant. Increasingly, the townsfolk become aware of a talent agency’s plan to build an opulent glamping site nearby, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to the snowy wilderness. When two company representatives arrive and ask for local guidance, Takumi becomes conflicted in his involvement, as it becomes clear that the project will have a pernicious impact on the community… As sinister gunshots echo from the forest, both the locals and representatives confront their life choices and the haunting consequences they have.

Previously, Hamaguchi explained that the project was conceived in collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi when she asked him to capture some original footage for a live performance she was working on (via Deadline). “I conceived of the film as an original source material for the footage,” he said. “This very free way of filmmaking vitalized me a lot. After the shoot, I felt that I had captured interactions of people in nature and completed the work as a single film with Eiko Ishibashi’s beautiful theme music. I hope the audience will feel the life force of the figures that are stirring in nature and music.”

Evil Does Not Exist stars Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka Shibutani. In 2022, Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car—an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short story of the same name—won Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Hamaguchi is also known internationally for films like Happy Hour (2015), Asako I & II (2018), and Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy (2021).

Evil Does Not Exist premieres in theaters May 3.