Ryusuke Hamaguchi INTERVIEW: Best Cannes Screenplay Winning Director asserts ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ is NOT about protecting the environment

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi Interview: Award-winning Drive My Car Director talks about his festival hit Evil Does Not Exist and putting ideas in people’s heads

Director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, known for acclaimed films Drive My Car (2021), Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) and Happy Hour (2015), challenges us to look at his film differently, just as he has done.

Director Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist was never intended to be a feature film – or even have words. The music you hear throughout and long gentle nature shots was the story. “A movie is an extremely visual device but this one started from an audio perspective where we were creating footage to meet a musical piece.”

But somehow, through the course of collaborating with singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi, who also worked with Hamaguchi on Drive My Car, it ‘accidentally’ became a movie. “I felt the need to create something imagery-driven and previously had a great experience with composer Ishibashi.  [This time] I wanted to portray her vision and had to work through that pressure to make the film. So, I hope the audience can feel it.”

Evil Does Not Exist is set in a small mountain village outside Tokyo amidst the glory of nature. As the pandemic winds down, there’s a town meeting to discuss hosting a glamping site in the area. A developer explains that it will revive the local economy while offering city residents a chance to escape into beautiful, rejuvenating nature. But what can all that tramping around mean for the area itself?

Of course, every viewer will dust off the popcorn scrimledges with his or her own take-aways, but Hamaguchi is clear on this. “Caring for the environment is an important issue. But this story is not about actively thinking about pollution. It’s about running after immediate profit over considering the long-term impact on the world.” 

MAKING AN IMPACT

He continues, “Because patterns happen so rapidly, it’s destroying humans too. That’s the issue. Patterns in daily lives – trying to meet deadlines, budget cycles – all that calls for deeper thinking. It’s a viscous cycle. This idea affected how I ran the production too.”

“When composer Ishibashi created the score, she based it on nature. I wasn’t sure how to approach things but when I heard about a town’s glamping public hearing, the story came to me. In Japan, glamping comes up repeatedly – each disregarding the lasting effects.”

More than the tactical piece around the way we treat the earth, Hamaguchi goes both philosophical and introspective. “To look at this fully, I too am part of the machine that chases profit – it brought me to this idea, this aspect of people seeking nature while at the same time destroying it.”

Having secured the revised concept, he interviewed the residents of that small town to lock the narrative. But the setting itself was nearly as big a factor as finding the story – it would need to feel like the music sounds.

“The location research was so inspiring as we experimented with ideas, like with cutting wood. We had someone from the team stand in and as we continued taking test shots, I thought ‘he would be good.’ I liked his expression, an animalistic, catlike look. With zero acting background he accepted the role – and it came out wonderful. The greatest outcome of the research process was casting [Hitoshi Omika who plays Takumi].”

REVELATIONS

Landing the wood-cutter wasn’t the only revelation for Hamaguchi, who hasn’t much experience in working with child-actors. “Our assistant director also works with Director Hirokazu Kore-eda, so I asked for some tips. Kore-eda has a lot of dialogue with kids (such as with his current festival-topper Monster). His advice was practical – treat children like human beings. It was actually a lot of fun, because it meant directing in a special way. I encouraged Ryô Nishikawa, who plays Hana, to react to the emotion. By building trust and giving her agency, she gave a surprisingly fabulous performance – sometimes more authentic than the adults. In future, I will work more with children.”

He followed a similar process with the rest of the cast, having them focus on the feeling. “I tried not to have actors prepare too much but rather be in the moment, delivering as naturally as possible. I’m interested in how their bodies react to the lines when they’re absorbed in the dialog. This is how I want to continue to work.”

Hamaguchi sustained his collaborative process with Ishibashi over the course of two years. “From the start, the relationship between the footage and the music was movement. What drove me to shoot was capturing the nuanced movement of nature.”

The music itself was another shift to Hamaguchi’s typical style. “I don’t usually like overly beautiful music – it manipulates the audience’s emotions. Music has that power and I normally stay away from that. But this time was different. The pairing of music and film was very important. We even used music to create distance during a violent scene.”

TITLE WITH INTENTION

From idea to finished can, Hamaguchi and Ishibashi communicated throughout. “Much of our collaboration was through correspondence. When it was initially brought to me, I was clueless on how to approach it. I started by sharing old footage, but she didn’t like it. Then she sent me three demos that are now part of the soundtrack. It was the music that helped me conjure images and that’s when it came to me – that music resonates within this work because of nature. The theme song made the whole project.”

While the music subtly manipulates, it’s the title that begs us to find the hidden ‘Where’s Waldo’ of evil hiding in the woods or in corporate meeting rooms. “I wanted the audience to bring another layer of understanding to the film. I always think carefully about how to title films.”

“Instigating the audience to look for a sense of ‘evil,’ creating movement in the audience, is important to me. It makes viewers inquisitive. Evil does, in fact, exist, so there’s a sense of countering the socially accepted concept. It’s important to plant that seed in the audience’s mind – something to ponder. We know evil exits. Do you think it sets the stage?”


Check out the review of Evil Does Not Exist. For more stories from the Busan International Film Festival, click here. For more interviews, click here

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