Safe to say Drive My Car‘s success wouldn’t have reached its historic heights sans Eiko Ishibashi, whose musical contributions acted as both complement and counterpoint to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s lengthy, ornate drama. Perhaps nobody would affirm this more than Hamaguchi: likely facing every opportunity a filmmaker, Japanese or otherwise, could want from the western world, he instead visited Ishibashi and troupe member Jim O’Rourke to film their performances in a small mountainous town, and from this emerged the dual projects Gift and Evil Does Not Exist.
After last week’s live performances of Gift at Film at Lincoln Center, I spoke to Ishibashi about the unique operation, her ongoing creative partnership with Hamaguchi, and attitude towards filmmaking practice.
Thanks to Stacy Smith, who provided interpretation.
The Film Stage: I saw Gift two nights ago––a very restorative experience. This quote kind of clarified why: “There is some element...
After last week’s live performances of Gift at Film at Lincoln Center, I spoke to Ishibashi about the unique operation, her ongoing creative partnership with Hamaguchi, and attitude towards filmmaking practice.
Thanks to Stacy Smith, who provided interpretation.
The Film Stage: I saw Gift two nights ago––a very restorative experience. This quote kind of clarified why: “There is some element...
- 5/6/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The opening, multi-minute shot of “Evil Does Not Exist” stares upwards at the trees, floating backwards through the forest, while Eiko Ishibashi’s haunting score casts a spell on us. It’s contemplative but not peaceful; weirdly arresting, like a thriller with no tangible thrills. It’s almost a shock when the story kicks in, but writer/director Ryusuke Hamaguchi looks at his characters much the same way. He’s fascinated and concerned by who they are and what they might do, and he watches them float by.
Hamaguchi’s previous film, “Drive My Car,” was a nearly three-hour drama about a man directing a stage version of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” where every character speaks a different language. Along the way, he formed a relationship with his production-mandated chauffeur who — fittingly enough — drives his car, as they listen to recordings of his recently-deceased wife reading the script. You...
Hamaguchi’s previous film, “Drive My Car,” was a nearly three-hour drama about a man directing a stage version of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” where every character speaks a different language. Along the way, he formed a relationship with his production-mandated chauffeur who — fittingly enough — drives his car, as they listen to recordings of his recently-deceased wife reading the script. You...
- 5/3/2024
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
After years of making films in his native Japan, writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi found unexpected global success in 2021 with “Drive My Car.”
Adapted and expanded from short stories by Haruki Murakami, it’s an exquisite drama about a grieving theater director staging a multilingual “Uncle Vanya,” and his relationship with the pensive young woman employed to drive his cherry-red Saab.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe won the Best Screenplay prize, “Drive My Car” went on to dominate the fall festival circuit. The film clocked up an astonishing four nominations at the 2022 Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Director nod for Hamaguchi, and went on to win Japan’s first Oscar for Best International Film.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, “Evil Does Not Exist” is to some extent a response to that overwhelming acclaim. “I knew that I wanted my next work to be very...
Adapted and expanded from short stories by Haruki Murakami, it’s an exquisite drama about a grieving theater director staging a multilingual “Uncle Vanya,” and his relationship with the pensive young woman employed to drive his cherry-red Saab.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe won the Best Screenplay prize, “Drive My Car” went on to dominate the fall festival circuit. The film clocked up an astonishing four nominations at the 2022 Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Director nod for Hamaguchi, and went on to win Japan’s first Oscar for Best International Film.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, “Evil Does Not Exist” is to some extent a response to that overwhelming acclaim. “I knew that I wanted my next work to be very...
- 4/30/2024
- by John Forde
- Indiewire
On a bright summer day in a tent on top of the sultry clay courts that give the Tennis Club Venezia its name, writer-director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi––known for his searing stories of love and longing and a taut, cryptic cinematic style all his own––saunters in tired but ready to talk, bags heavy under his eyes, tennis balls whopping back and forth in the distance. It’s 2023 and we’re on the Lido at the 80th Venice Film Festival. Hamaguchi’s latest feature Evil Does Not Exist has just debuted in competition to uncharacteristically rapturous applause.
The prolific, self-made Japanese auteur burst onto the scene at Locarno in 2015 with the success of the five-plus-hour Happy Hour. But despite the newfound popularity, Hamaguchi was a veteran. He’d already written and directed ten features and eight shorts, often teaming up with universities and research organizations that funded his crisp, sharp, sensitive...
The prolific, self-made Japanese auteur burst onto the scene at Locarno in 2015 with the success of the five-plus-hour Happy Hour. But despite the newfound popularity, Hamaguchi was a veteran. He’d already written and directed ten features and eight shorts, often teaming up with universities and research organizations that funded his crisp, sharp, sensitive...
- 4/30/2024
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
Her score for Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s opus helped it to Oscar glory. Now the Japanese musician has reunited with its director for a collaboration unlike any other
Whether it’s Hitchcock and Herrmann, Spielberg and Williams or latterly Villeneuve and Zimmer, film directors often get into a glorious feedback loop with a preferred composer – and the latest is a burgeoning collaboration between Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi. Her jazz-pop theme for Drive My Car in 2021 was an instant classic – wistful, generous of spirit, even a little Gallic with its touch of accordion – and her score helped to carry the Japanese film to glory at Cannes and beyond, including a best picture nomination and best international feature film award at the Oscars in 2022.
“There was a big awards rush, festivals, and I think Hamaguchi was ultimately quite fatigued from the whole experience,” Ishibashi says, elegantly wrapped up in her cold-looking recording...
Whether it’s Hitchcock and Herrmann, Spielberg and Williams or latterly Villeneuve and Zimmer, film directors often get into a glorious feedback loop with a preferred composer – and the latest is a burgeoning collaboration between Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi. Her jazz-pop theme for Drive My Car in 2021 was an instant classic – wistful, generous of spirit, even a little Gallic with its touch of accordion – and her score helped to carry the Japanese film to glory at Cannes and beyond, including a best picture nomination and best international feature film award at the Oscars in 2022.
“There was a big awards rush, festivals, and I think Hamaguchi was ultimately quite fatigued from the whole experience,” Ishibashi says, elegantly wrapped up in her cold-looking recording...
- 4/8/2024
- by Ben Beaumont-Thomas
- The Guardian - Film News
Dev Patel’s feature directorial debut Monkey Man leads the new films at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, starting in 592 cinemas through Universal.
Directed, produced, from a story by and starring Patel, Monkey Man follows an anonymous young man who unleashes a campaign of violence against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother, and continue to systematically victimise the poor and powerless.
Filmed in early 2021, Netflix originally bought worldwide rights to Monkey Man. After Jordan Peele boarded the title as producer through his Monkeypaw Productions, Universal acquired it from Netflix earlier this year. It debuted at SXSW last month.
Directed, produced, from a story by and starring Patel, Monkey Man follows an anonymous young man who unleashes a campaign of violence against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother, and continue to systematically victimise the poor and powerless.
Filmed in early 2021, Netflix originally bought worldwide rights to Monkey Man. After Jordan Peele boarded the title as producer through his Monkeypaw Productions, Universal acquired it from Netflix earlier this year. It debuted at SXSW last month.
- 4/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
A camera drifts slowly beneath a canopy of wintry trees, accompanied by the orchestral strings of Eiko Ishibashi’s score, inviting us to fall into what we anticipate to be the slow and quiet rhythms of Drive My Car director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s latest film.
That is, for the most part, a good hunch, but the surprise sound of a shotgun ringing out not far into the Venice Silver Bear winner – the distance away of which the two characters who hear it disagree on – is a clue that Hamaguchi may not only be interested in the tranquillity of nature. A children’s game of green light, red light – which sees them race in spurts to a finish line in between standing stock still like statues – also hints at the way things can seem not to be moving at all, only for the shock of change to happen in a...
That is, for the most part, a good hunch, but the surprise sound of a shotgun ringing out not far into the Venice Silver Bear winner – the distance away of which the two characters who hear it disagree on – is a clue that Hamaguchi may not only be interested in the tranquillity of nature. A children’s game of green light, red light – which sees them race in spurts to a finish line in between standing stock still like statues – also hints at the way things can seem not to be moving at all, only for the shock of change to happen in a...
- 4/4/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
After being catapulted to the big time with Drive My Car, the director’s next film Evil Does Not Exist has helped him escape the pressure of his success – and is designed to retain an air of the unknown
The winter sky in the opening shot of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist is a brilliant white, seen through a tangle of spindly tree branches. Set against a radiant orchestral score, the scene looks sublime. But then a dissonant note is heard in the music. Then another. Not everything is as it seems.
“I started from a place of not knowing anything,” Hamaguchi says of his new film, which sets up a paradisal image of nature to then unsettle it. He speaks with a humility that belies his standing as one of Japan’s most celebrated auteurs. It was late 2021, he recalls; his previous film, Drive My Car, had been released.
The winter sky in the opening shot of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist is a brilliant white, seen through a tangle of spindly tree branches. Set against a radiant orchestral score, the scene looks sublime. But then a dissonant note is heard in the music. Then another. Not everything is as it seems.
“I started from a place of not knowing anything,” Hamaguchi says of his new film, which sets up a paradisal image of nature to then unsettle it. He speaks with a humility that belies his standing as one of Japan’s most celebrated auteurs. It was late 2021, he recalls; his previous film, Drive My Car, had been released.
- 4/1/2024
- by Rebecca Liu
- The Guardian - Film News
Evil Does Not ExistPhoto: Janus Films
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,...
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,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Emma Keates
- avclub.com
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi became globally known after the success of Drive My Car, which earned him three major Oscar nominations, and one win (Best International Feature). After adapting Haruki Murakami’s short story, Hamaguchi has moved on to a new project, which was presented to audiences last year in Venice, where it won five out of the six awards it was nominated for. Evil Does Not Exist is the movie we are talking about, and ahead of this year’s American premiere, an official trailer for the movie has been released.
The movie is based on an original screenplay by Hamaguchi and based on the success it has had so far, the movie is slated to be another big hit for the Japanese filmmaker, which might earn him several awards later this year and next year.
The film will feature Hitoshi Omika as Takumi, Ryo Nishikawa as Hana, Ryuji Kosaka as Takahashi,...
The movie is based on an original screenplay by Hamaguchi and based on the success it has had so far, the movie is slated to be another big hit for the Japanese filmmaker, which might earn him several awards later this year and next year.
The film will feature Hitoshi Omika as Takumi, Ryo Nishikawa as Hana, Ryuji Kosaka as Takahashi,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Arthur S. Poe
- Fiction Horizon
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi retreated into a rural village outside of Tokyo to make “Evil Does Not Exist,” his first film following the global success of “Drive My Car,” which won the 2022 Best International Feature Oscar. The Japanese director found himself perhaps uncomfortably in the worldwide spotlight after being known for indies like “Asako I & II” and “Happy Hour,” and so “Evil Does Not Exist,” winner of the 2023 Venice Silver Lion and Fipresci prizes, is a return to minimalist basics — an ecological parable wrapped up with unexpected thriller elements, and a movie he shot in secret.
IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film, out in U.S. theaters May 3 from Sideshow and Janus Films, below. While “Evil Does Not Exist” wasn’t eligible for the International Feature Oscar due to its release date in Japan, Hamaguchi had a great run at the 2022 Academy Awards — along with the “Drive My Car” International Feature win,...
IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film, out in U.S. theaters May 3 from Sideshow and Janus Films, below. While “Evil Does Not Exist” wasn’t eligible for the International Feature Oscar due to its release date in Japan, Hamaguchi had a great run at the 2022 Academy Awards — along with the “Drive My Car” International Feature win,...
- 3/26/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Italy’s Udine has unveiled the full line-up for its 26th edition, which will honour Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou with an honorary award and world premiere restored versions of his Raise The Red Lantern and To Live.
Running April 24 to May 2, the festival will open with a double bill: Chinese box office hit Yolo and South Korean action-comedy Citizen Of A Kind.
Yolo dominated this year’s Lunar New Year releases, grossing $484m in China, and is directed by Jia Ling, who stars as an unemployed woman in her 30s whose life is...
Running April 24 to May 2, the festival will open with a double bill: Chinese box office hit Yolo and South Korean action-comedy Citizen Of A Kind.
Yolo dominated this year’s Lunar New Year releases, grossing $484m in China, and is directed by Jia Ling, who stars as an unemployed woman in her 30s whose life is...
- 3/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 17th annual Asian Film Awards (Afa) announced the winners and special award recipients at a ceremony held at the West Kowloon Cultural District's Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong on March 10, 2024. Sixteen competitive prizes and six honorary prizes were given out.
A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...
A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...
- 3/11/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Eiko Ishibashi provides more than just music for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s movies, with her compositions being central to the Japanese filmmaker’s dramas, so much so that they take on the life of a supporting character.
There have been consecutive Asian Film Awards (Afa) wins for Ishibashi’s work on, first, the Oscar-winning Drive My Car and, this past Sunday night in Hong Kong, Evil Does Not Exist. In both films, the composer’s music helps drive the narrative, as much as set the mood.
Evil Does Not Exist grew out of plans for a concert Hamaguchi and Ishibashi were working on. Such was the depth and breadth of their discussions that the filmmaker started to see specific characters and situations emerging, and he then gathered them into a screenplay that deals with an environmental flashpoint in rural Japan, which is shadowed by the looming threat of violence.
The long-time...
There have been consecutive Asian Film Awards (Afa) wins for Ishibashi’s work on, first, the Oscar-winning Drive My Car and, this past Sunday night in Hong Kong, Evil Does Not Exist. In both films, the composer’s music helps drive the narrative, as much as set the mood.
Evil Does Not Exist grew out of plans for a concert Hamaguchi and Ishibashi were working on. Such was the depth and breadth of their discussions that the filmmaker started to see specific characters and situations emerging, and he then gathered them into a screenplay that deals with an environmental flashpoint in rural Japan, which is shadowed by the looming threat of violence.
The long-time...
- 3/11/2024
- by Mathew Scott
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist was named best film at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on Sunday evening (March 10).
The Japanese drama, which premiered in competition at Venice where it won five awards including the grand jury prize, also picked up best original music for composer Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
While Hamaguchi was not at the ceremony, held in the Grand Theatre of the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the top prize was accepted in-person by Ishibashi, cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa and co-editor Azusa Yamzaki – presented by...
The Japanese drama, which premiered in competition at Venice where it won five awards including the grand jury prize, also picked up best original music for composer Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
While Hamaguchi was not at the ceremony, held in the Grand Theatre of the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the top prize was accepted in-person by Ishibashi, cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa and co-editor Azusa Yamzaki – presented by...
- 3/10/2024
- ScreenDaily
Oscar winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s formalist arthouse drama Evil Does Not Exist won the best film prize Sunday night at the Asia Film Awards in Hong Kong.
The Japanese film industry had a big night overall at the 17th edition of the awards ceremony, which was hosted this year in Hong Kong’s gleaming new Xiqu Centre, part of the city’s $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District development. Japanese festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda won best director for his mystery drama Monster, while the great Koji Yakusho took best actor for Wim Wender’s moving minimalist drama Perfect Days. Hamaguchi’s chief collaborator on Evil Does Not Exist, Eiko Ishibashi, won best music and the Kaiju critical and commercial sensation Godzilla Minus One claimed both best visual effects and best sound.
In many ways, it was Zhang Yimou’s night, however. The venerated Chinese director took the stage twice, once to...
The Japanese film industry had a big night overall at the 17th edition of the awards ceremony, which was hosted this year in Hong Kong’s gleaming new Xiqu Centre, part of the city’s $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District development. Japanese festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda won best director for his mystery drama Monster, while the great Koji Yakusho took best actor for Wim Wender’s moving minimalist drama Perfect Days. Hamaguchi’s chief collaborator on Evil Does Not Exist, Eiko Ishibashi, won best music and the Kaiju critical and commercial sensation Godzilla Minus One claimed both best visual effects and best sound.
In many ways, it was Zhang Yimou’s night, however. The venerated Chinese director took the stage twice, once to...
- 3/10/2024
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
- 3/8/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well has been set as the opening film of the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which has unveiled its full lineup today.
It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.
Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...
It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.
Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...
- 3/8/2024
- ScreenDaily
Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi has quietly been cementing himself as one of the most interesting filmmakers currently at work, rightly earning international awards and nominations for his previous film Drive My Car. His latest venture, the environmentally conscious thriller Evil Does Not Exist, will only enhance his growing reputation.
The film takes place in a remote mountain community not far from Tokyo. Everybody knows everybody and the inhabitants are responsible for each other and for their pristine environment. The hero is Takumi (Hitoshi Omika), a taciturn widower who lives with his young daughter Hana. He is the archetypal woodsman: he knows about all the flora and fauna in the area, he chops wood, he collects the pure mountain water from the brook, he notes all the changes in his surroundings, and he imparts all this knowledge and love of nature to Hana. That pure water is an essential ingredient to...
The film takes place in a remote mountain community not far from Tokyo. Everybody knows everybody and the inhabitants are responsible for each other and for their pristine environment. The hero is Takumi (Hitoshi Omika), a taciturn widower who lives with his young daughter Hana. He is the archetypal woodsman: he knows about all the flora and fauna in the area, he chops wood, he collects the pure mountain water from the brook, he notes all the changes in his surroundings, and he imparts all this knowledge and love of nature to Hana. That pure water is an essential ingredient to...
- 1/16/2024
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.
South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.
Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...
South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.
Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...
- 1/12/2024
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.
In 2023, the Berlin Film Festival saw the resignation of Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and the ousting of Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, a move that doubled as a rejection of Chatrian’s thoughtful curation that marched to the beat of its own drum. The Toronto International Film Festival saw the loss of its major sponsor after a 28-year partnership as well as layoffs in December. The Venice Film Festival saw a change in leadership with the appointment of a far-right figure as head of the Biennale, a choice from the country’s right-wing government that already has people nervous as to what the 2024 festival might look like. Then you have various film festival cancellations, for reasons both political and financial.
As we enter the third year of wondering if “movies are back,...
In 2023, the Berlin Film Festival saw the resignation of Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and the ousting of Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, a move that doubled as a rejection of Chatrian’s thoughtful curation that marched to the beat of its own drum. The Toronto International Film Festival saw the loss of its major sponsor after a 28-year partnership as well as layoffs in December. The Venice Film Festival saw a change in leadership with the appointment of a far-right figure as head of the Biennale, a choice from the country’s right-wing government that already has people nervous as to what the 2024 festival might look like. Then you have various film festival cancellations, for reasons both political and financial.
As we enter the third year of wondering if “movies are back,...
- 1/2/2024
- by C.J. Prince
- The Film Stage
Few people would accuse Christopher Nolan of lacking ambition. But listening to Ludwig Göransson’s score for Oppenheimer, with its flurries of tremolando strings, tenderly arpeggiating harps, and surging orchestral minor chords, one thing becomes clear: most of this music could have been written, recorded, and slapped on a grandiose prestige picture any time in the last fifty years. Nolan’s blockbuster is not alone in this, and it’s not an issue confined to the year’s studio tentpole releases, either. Both Talk To Me and No One Will Save You, otherwise innovative lower-budget genre films with plenty of good ideas between them, are nonetheless let down by safe, overly familiar scores. The blame almost certainly isn’t to be laid at the feet of the composers. Even talented musicians like Bobby Krlic can end up producing middling fare when hemmed in by the wrong picture (witness the Midsommar...
- 12/8/2023
- MUBI
Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes.
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
“Evil Does Not Exist” is the ninth feature film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who recently received the Silver Lion award at the 80th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, in addition to the Fipresci Award from the International Federation of Film Critics. Furthermore, during the 67th edition of the BFI London Film Festival, the film was honored with the title of “Best Film”.
“Evil Does Not Exist” in Venice International Film Festival
The narrative unfolds within a secluded mountain town in Japan, precisely within the picturesque village of Harasawa. Here, a closely-knit local community leads a tranquil existence, deeply immersed in the harmonious balance between the peaceful rhythms of the surrounding woods and the timeless beauty of nature. Gradually, the distinctive inhabitants of the village come into focus, notably the versatile handyman Takumi (portrayed by Hitoshi Omika) and his daughter, Hana (Ryo Nishikawa). The daily life in Harasawa exudes simplicity,...
“Evil Does Not Exist” in Venice International Film Festival
The narrative unfolds within a secluded mountain town in Japan, precisely within the picturesque village of Harasawa. Here, a closely-knit local community leads a tranquil existence, deeply immersed in the harmonious balance between the peaceful rhythms of the surrounding woods and the timeless beauty of nature. Gradually, the distinctive inhabitants of the village come into focus, notably the versatile handyman Takumi (portrayed by Hitoshi Omika) and his daughter, Hana (Ryo Nishikawa). The daily life in Harasawa exudes simplicity,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Siria Falleroni
- AsianMoviePulse
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist” was named the best film in the official competition at this year’s BFI London Film Festival Awards.
“Paradise Is Burning” by Mika Gustafson received the Sutherland Award in the first feature competition, while Lina Soualem’s “Bye Bye Tiberias” took home the Grierson Award in the documentary competition and “The Archive: Queer Nigerians” directed by Simisolaoluwa Akande won the short film competition.
The jury presidents for this year’s awards included Amat Escalante (official competition), Raine Allen-Miller (first feature competition), Rubika Shah (documentary competition) and Charlotte Regan (short film competition).
In its official statement on selecting “Evil Does Not Exist” as best film, the jury said: “Subtle, cinematic and underscored by fully realised performances, Hamaguchi’s assured drama supersedes the sum of its parts. It is both a lyrical portrait of family and community, and a nuanced consideration of the ethics of land development.
“Paradise Is Burning” by Mika Gustafson received the Sutherland Award in the first feature competition, while Lina Soualem’s “Bye Bye Tiberias” took home the Grierson Award in the documentary competition and “The Archive: Queer Nigerians” directed by Simisolaoluwa Akande won the short film competition.
The jury presidents for this year’s awards included Amat Escalante (official competition), Raine Allen-Miller (first feature competition), Rubika Shah (documentary competition) and Charlotte Regan (short film competition).
In its official statement on selecting “Evil Does Not Exist” as best film, the jury said: “Subtle, cinematic and underscored by fully realised performances, Hamaguchi’s assured drama supersedes the sum of its parts. It is both a lyrical portrait of family and community, and a nuanced consideration of the ethics of land development.
- 10/15/2023
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Voting for audience awards is now open.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s environmental drama Evil Does Not Exist has won the best film award in official competition at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff), which closed today (October 15).
A statement from the competition jury read, “Subtle, cinematic and underscored by fully realised performances, Hamaguchi’s assured drama supersedes the sum of its parts.
“It is both a lyrical portrait of family and community, and a nuanced consideration of the ethics of land development. Amidst a strong competition the jury is unanimous in our admiration!.”
Scroll down for the full list of winners...
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s environmental drama Evil Does Not Exist has won the best film award in official competition at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff), which closed today (October 15).
A statement from the competition jury read, “Subtle, cinematic and underscored by fully realised performances, Hamaguchi’s assured drama supersedes the sum of its parts.
“It is both a lyrical portrait of family and community, and a nuanced consideration of the ethics of land development. Amidst a strong competition the jury is unanimous in our admiration!.”
Scroll down for the full list of winners...
- 10/15/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi follows up his Academy Award winning Drive My Car with this sombre and deceptively chilling tale of urban sprawl’s encroachment upon a remote countryside community. Originally conceived as a video piece to accompany the music of composer Eiko Ishibashi, the collaboration expanded into a full-blown feature film that steers the director’s oeuvre in a bold new direction. As Japan emerges from the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, a Tokyo-based company launches plans to develop a glamping site in the picturesque mountains outside the city. A pair of representatives, Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani), arrive to present their proposal to the local residents, who are uniformly opposed to transforming their self-sufficient village into a tourist site for ignorant city folk. ...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/11/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSTiny, a Canadian technology holding company, has completed a majority acquisition of the film-oriented social networking platform Letterboxd, Business Wire reports. Letterboxd’s founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow will continue to lead the business independently as the company scales up.REMEMBERINGThe Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.Michael Gambon has died aged 82. A notable stage actor, Gambon appeared in Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) before taking on memorable roles in Michael Mann's The Insider (1999), Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), and the Harry Potter films, in which he took over the role of Albus Dumbledore from Richard Harris. "Gambon left school aged 15 and, unlike many of his contemporaries, did not receive any formal training at drama school," writes Chris Wiegand in his Guardian obituary.
- 10/4/2023
- MUBI
The Japanese drama is the second film from the ‘Drive My Car’ director
Screen can reveal the first trailer for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s drama Evil Does Not Exist.
The Japanese feature first premiered in Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize. The film went on to play Toronto and San Sebastian with further screenings at Busan, New York and London festivals incoming.
A father and daughter’s peaceful lives in a small village outside of Tokyo are disrupted by a new camping site development in Hamaguchi’s latest film following Oscar-winner Drive My Car.
Evil Does Not Exist...
Screen can reveal the first trailer for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s drama Evil Does Not Exist.
The Japanese feature first premiered in Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize. The film went on to play Toronto and San Sebastian with further screenings at Busan, New York and London festivals incoming.
A father and daughter’s peaceful lives in a small village outside of Tokyo are disrupted by a new camping site development in Hamaguchi’s latest film following Oscar-winner Drive My Car.
Evil Does Not Exist...
- 10/2/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSPoor Things.The 80th Venice Film Festival concluded last weekend. The jury, chaired by Damien Chazelle, awarded the Golden Lion to Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest, Poor Things; in his latest dispatch, Leonardo Goi calls it "joltingly alive, a film that crackles with the same restless curiosity and lust of its protagonist." See a summary of all the awards, plus a roundup of our coverage.San Sebastian Film Festival has announced who will serve on their festival juries for their 71st edition: Claire Denis will be the president for the Official Section, while Hayao Miyazaki will receive an honorary award for career achievement. His latest film, The Boy and The Heron, will open the festival.Recommended VIEWINGFor their 50th anniversary, the Film Fest Gent have commissioned 25 new short films inspired by new musical compositions. There's...
- 9/16/2023
- MUBI
Marking perhaps the greatest coup any festival’s managed these last ten years, the Film Fest Gent––recently in our sights for their addition of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s new(er) feature Gift––are celebrating their 50th anniversary with 25 new shorts by an absolute murderer’s row of filmmakers, among them: Paul Schrader, Terence Davies, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, Radu Jude, Helena Wittmann, Naomi Kawase, and João Pedro Rodrigues. Ff Gent’s unusual method was to first hire composers for a short, one- or two-minute piece, then asking this range of filmmakers––”who engage in more “traditional narrative cinema, as well as experimental work and documentary, to ensure diversity––letting sound inspire image. The majority of them (Schrader being a notable exception) are showing completely free.
Find the available films below:
The post Film Fest Gent Are Now Streaming New Shorts from Terence Davies, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, and More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Find the available films below:
The post Film Fest Gent Are Now Streaming New Shorts from Terence Davies, Bi Gan, Jia Zhangke, and More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 9/15/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
In a flurry of international deals, Ryusuke Hamaguchi‘s “Evil Does Not Exist” has secured distribution across further key territories. Hamaguchi is best known for the Oscar winning film “Drive My Car.”
The film created a buzz at the Venice Film Festival following its world premiere in competition on Monday, and saw Hamaguchi receive an almost eight-minute standing ovation.
Further deals have been closed in Poland (Gutek Film), Latin America (Imovision), Australia and New Zealand (Hi Gloss Entertainment), and the ex-Yugoslavian region (Five Stars Film Distribution), all of which will release the film theatrically.
Previously, the film sold to North America (Sideshow), U.K. and Ireland (Modern Films), France (Diaphana), Italy (Tucker and Teodora), Spain (Caramel Films), Germany (Pandora Film Distribution), Korea (GreenNarae), Benelux (September Film Distribution), Taiwan (Andrews Film), Austria (Polyfilm), Turkey (Mars Film), Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Greece (Ama Films), Switzerland (Cineworx...
The film created a buzz at the Venice Film Festival following its world premiere in competition on Monday, and saw Hamaguchi receive an almost eight-minute standing ovation.
Further deals have been closed in Poland (Gutek Film), Latin America (Imovision), Australia and New Zealand (Hi Gloss Entertainment), and the ex-Yugoslavian region (Five Stars Film Distribution), all of which will release the film theatrically.
Previously, the film sold to North America (Sideshow), U.K. and Ireland (Modern Films), France (Diaphana), Italy (Tucker and Teodora), Spain (Caramel Films), Germany (Pandora Film Distribution), Korea (GreenNarae), Benelux (September Film Distribution), Taiwan (Andrews Film), Austria (Polyfilm), Turkey (Mars Film), Portugal (Leopardo Filmes), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Greece (Ama Films), Switzerland (Cineworx...
- 9/7/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Editor’s Note: This review originally published during the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus Films will release “Evil Does Not Exist” in U.S. theaters on May 3.
“Evil Does Not Exist,” the title of the latest film from “Drive My Car” director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, is a bold statement to make in the year 2023. As it turns out in this eerie and elusive ecological tone poem about man, nature, and man’s nature, the statement is not necessarily something the Japanese filmmaker believes.
This made-in-secret and gently lilting film set in a bucolic village on the outskirts of Tokyo seems like a call for compassion on the surface — it centers on how the village’s inhabitants tangle with a corporation trying to set up a glamping site in their forest, only for the two opposing sides to eventually find common ground. But that entente proves a foil for a much...
“Evil Does Not Exist,” the title of the latest film from “Drive My Car” director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, is a bold statement to make in the year 2023. As it turns out in this eerie and elusive ecological tone poem about man, nature, and man’s nature, the statement is not necessarily something the Japanese filmmaker believes.
This made-in-secret and gently lilting film set in a bucolic village on the outskirts of Tokyo seems like a call for compassion on the surface — it centers on how the village’s inhabitants tangle with a corporation trying to set up a glamping site in their forest, only for the two opposing sides to eventually find common ground. But that entente proves a foil for a much...
- 9/5/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest, Evil Does Not Exist, received a 7-minute, 50-second ovation at its Venice Film Festival world premiere on the Lido on Monday. The applause for the director of last year’s Best International Feature Oscar winner Drive My Car only ended when Hamaguchi and his team got up to leave.
After the ovation, Hamaguchi stopped in the auditorium lobby to take selfies and sign autographs.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi takes his bows after ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ premiere at #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/N9Ar5eK8V1
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) September 4, 2023
Evil Does Not Exist was a sort of under-the-radar title coming into the festival. The story centers on Takumi and his daughter Hana who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan...
After the ovation, Hamaguchi stopped in the auditorium lobby to take selfies and sign autographs.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi takes his bows after ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ premiere at #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/N9Ar5eK8V1
— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) September 4, 2023
Evil Does Not Exist was a sort of under-the-radar title coming into the festival. The story centers on Takumi and his daughter Hana who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan...
- 9/4/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Amongst a typically raucous lineup at this year’s Venice Film Festival comes Evil Does Not Exist, a work in which tensions rise over little more than the placement of a septic tank. It’s the latest from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi and his first since 2021’s miraculous double-punch of Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Drive My Car. Evil concerns a clash of urban and rural sensibilities: a story about a small but hardy group of people who wish to stop the development of a glamping site. Devotees of Kelly Reichardt’s sylvan melancholies will feel perfectly at home.
A quiet, funny, confounding mystery, Evil plays out amongst the forests and streams of a remote village close to Tokyo. Tensions are raised when two representatives for the glamping company, Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani), arrive to talk things over. The locals, in particular a man named Takumi, voice...
A quiet, funny, confounding mystery, Evil plays out amongst the forests and streams of a remote village close to Tokyo. Tensions are raised when two representatives for the glamping company, Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani), arrive to talk things over. The locals, in particular a man named Takumi, voice...
- 9/4/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Japanese auteur Ryusuke Hamaguchi is not slowing down. In 2021, the 45-year-old director released two features of stunning quality, the anthology drama Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (which won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival) and Drive My Car, a surprise awards season sensation, which eventually gave Japan its first Oscar win in 20 years. At the 2023 Venice Film Festival, Hamaguchi is back with yet another feature displaying a fully realized, deeply sophisticated aesthetic.
Evil Does Not Exist was initiated by Drive My Car‘s composer Eiko Ishibashi, who invited Hamaguchi in late 2021 to create some video images to accompany a live musical piece she was writing. While researching that project in the rural Japanese village where Ishibashi is from, Hamaguchi became inspired to shoot a highly formalist feature film in tandem with the video piece. By January, he had a script and filming took place over February and March.
Evil Does Not Exist was initiated by Drive My Car‘s composer Eiko Ishibashi, who invited Hamaguchi in late 2021 to create some video images to accompany a live musical piece she was writing. While researching that project in the rural Japanese village where Ishibashi is from, Hamaguchi became inspired to shoot a highly formalist feature film in tandem with the video piece. By January, he had a script and filming took place over February and March.
- 9/4/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
When Venice head Alberto Barbera announced his competition lineup in July, he confessed that he and his selection team were surprised to see one submission in their database: a feature project by Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi.
Hamaguchi had quietly returned to filmmaking following the international success of his last two features, Drive My Car, which won best screenplay at Cannes before winning the best international feature film Oscar, and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, silver bear winner at Berlin.
The final product is Evil Does Not Exist, an enigmatic feature screening this evening on the Lido.
Set deep in the forest of a rural Japanese village close to Tokyo, the pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who, like generations before them, live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near...
Hamaguchi had quietly returned to filmmaking following the international success of his last two features, Drive My Car, which won best screenplay at Cannes before winning the best international feature film Oscar, and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, silver bear winner at Berlin.
The final product is Evil Does Not Exist, an enigmatic feature screening this evening on the Lido.
Set deep in the forest of a rural Japanese village close to Tokyo, the pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who, like generations before them, live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near...
- 9/4/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Shinrin-yoku, which translates as “forest-bathing,” was a Japanese invention of the 1980s: a meditative therapy that connects burnt-out urbanites with the healing power of nature. Evil Does Not Exist, the latest film from the celebrated director of Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi – and a contender for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival — opens with a long series of scenes of trees that are so serenely paced and beautifully scored that they leave you feeling as if you have been forest-bathing for real.
Pine trees sway overhead, the streams trickle, sunshine falls between the branches on to the snow, white mountain crags soar in the distance. Eiko Ishibashi’s music, led by the thin lilt of a violin, swirls in the background. We see Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) crouched over a spring filling water bottles; shown in mid-shot, surrounded by the murmuring forest, he is part of his landscape, methodically spooning water into the containers.
Pine trees sway overhead, the streams trickle, sunshine falls between the branches on to the snow, white mountain crags soar in the distance. Eiko Ishibashi’s music, led by the thin lilt of a violin, swirls in the background. We see Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) crouched over a spring filling water bottles; shown in mid-shot, surrounded by the murmuring forest, he is part of his landscape, methodically spooning water into the containers.
- 9/4/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
A wild deer with a hunter’s bullet in its belly may attack a human, no matter how mild its nature normally. This is one of the droplets of woodland wisdom dispensed by the otherwise taciturn Takumi (Hitoshi Omika), the woodcutter, water-gatherer and all-round odd-job-man of Mizubiki village, the setting of “Drive My Car” director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s meditative and moving, yet ultimately unsettling new feature. Takumi’s few words all relate to such matters: the flow of a stream, the thorns on a Siberian Ginseng, the tang of wild wasabi. They are pastoral litanies as spartan and lilting as “Evil Does not Exist” itself, right until a last-minute reversal calls its strange title back to mind and into question. Even if evil does not exist in this peaceful, bucolic community, injustice and animal instinct certainly do.
From the outset indicating the centrality of composer Eiko Ishibashi’s score, we...
From the outset indicating the centrality of composer Eiko Ishibashi’s score, we...
- 9/4/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
What a strange, unpredictable film Ryûsuke Hamaguchi has made to follow his rapturously received international breakthrough, Drive My Car. While Evil Does Not Exist (Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai) reins in the symphonic expansiveness of its predecessor, this more compact slow-burn drama builds its own hypnotic, changeable rhythms, along with a quiet sense of dread that sneaks up on you just as people on both sides of a conflict appear to be working toward common ground — whatever that’s worth. An ending that pushes its ambiguousness to confounding lengths will be a deal-breaker for some, but this haunting stealth thriller about violations of nature is a work of undeniable power.
If the shadow of Chekhov stretched elegantly over Drive My Car, the Japanese writer-director’s new film might almost be said to have a kinship with Ibsen, its tensions around the potential contamination of a water supply and the heated responses...
If the shadow of Chekhov stretched elegantly over Drive My Car, the Japanese writer-director’s new film might almost be said to have a kinship with Ibsen, its tensions around the potential contamination of a water supply and the heated responses...
- 9/4/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Evil Does Not Exist,” the new film by the Oscar-winning auteur Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, has sold to several additional territories. The film will world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will have its North America premiere as a special presentation at Toronto, and will go on to screen at New York and San Sebastian.
Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.
M-Appeal, which is handling world sales on “Evil Does Not Exist,” has closed distribution deals with Pandora Film Distribution for Germany, GreenNarae for Korea, Polyfilm for Austria, and Mars Film for Turkey. All deals have a strong focus on theatrical release.
The film has already been sold in North America (Sideshow), U.K. and Ireland (Modern Films), France (Diaphana...
Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.
M-Appeal, which is handling world sales on “Evil Does Not Exist,” has closed distribution deals with Pandora Film Distribution for Germany, GreenNarae for Korea, Polyfilm for Austria, and Mars Film for Turkey. All deals have a strong focus on theatrical release.
The film has already been sold in North America (Sideshow), U.K. and Ireland (Modern Films), France (Diaphana...
- 8/28/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Japanese auteur Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s forthcoming drama Evil Does Not Exist — his first feature since winning the best international film Oscar with Drive My Car last year — has locked down North American distribution with Sideshow and Janus Films. The film is set to world premiere in competition at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, followed by a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Written and directed by Hamaguchi, Evil Does Not Exist stars Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, and Ayaka Shibutani and is produced by Satoshi Takata of Neopa Inc. It also reunites Hamaguchi with Drive My Car‘s composer Eiko Ishibashi.
Evil Does Not Exist follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to...
Written and directed by Hamaguchi, Evil Does Not Exist stars Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, and Ayaka Shibutani and is produced by Satoshi Takata of Neopa Inc. It also reunites Hamaguchi with Drive My Car‘s composer Eiko Ishibashi.
Evil Does Not Exist follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to...
- 8/11/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The drama is from the Oscar-winning director of ‘Drive My Car’.
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all North American rights to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist from M-Appeal, ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival.
The partners plan a theatrical release for the feature, which is the follow-up to Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, winner of the Oscar for international feature film last year. The film was also Oscar-nominated for best picture, directing and adapted screenplay, having premiered in Competition at Cannes in 2021 where it won four awards including best screenplay.
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all North American rights to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist from M-Appeal, ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival.
The partners plan a theatrical release for the feature, which is the follow-up to Japanese filmmaker Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, winner of the Oscar for international feature film last year. The film was also Oscar-nominated for best picture, directing and adapted screenplay, having premiered in Competition at Cannes in 2021 where it won four awards including best screenplay.
- 8/10/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all North American rights to Academy Award-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival next month.
The companies previously enjoyed success with Hamaguchi’s 2022 Best International Film Oscar winner Drive My Car, which they picked up at the 2021 edition of Cannes in their first joint acquisition.
The film, which was also Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, went on to be one of first successes at the specialty box office coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, grossing $2.3m gross in the U.S. and Canada.
New feature Evil Does Not Exist stars Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, and Ayaka Shibutani and is produced by Satoshi Takata of Neopa Inc.
It follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them,...
The companies previously enjoyed success with Hamaguchi’s 2022 Best International Film Oscar winner Drive My Car, which they picked up at the 2021 edition of Cannes in their first joint acquisition.
The film, which was also Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, went on to be one of first successes at the specialty box office coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, grossing $2.3m gross in the U.S. and Canada.
New feature Evil Does Not Exist stars Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, and Ayaka Shibutani and is produced by Satoshi Takata of Neopa Inc.
It follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them,...
- 8/10/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
“Evil Does Not Exist,” the next film from “Drive My Car” director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, has landed North American distribution rights from Sideshow and Janus Films, which previously released “Drive My Car” to a Best Picture nomination in 2021.
“Evil Does Not Exist” is making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival next month in competition, and it will also have a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival and as part of the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival.
Sideshow and Janus Films will release the film in theaters after its fall festival run but did not specify a date.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis: “‘Evil Does Not Exist’ follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants...
“Evil Does Not Exist” is making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival next month in competition, and it will also have a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival and as part of the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival.
Sideshow and Janus Films will release the film in theaters after its fall festival run but did not specify a date.
Here’s the film’s official synopsis: “‘Evil Does Not Exist’ follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants...
- 8/10/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
John Williams, Nicholas Britell and Taylor Swift are all nominated
John Williams, Nicholas Britell and Taylor Swift are among the first wave of nominees for the World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa) 2023.
The winners will be announced at the 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards on October 21 at the Film Fest Ghent in Belgium, during which the annual celebration of film music is held.
Williams is nominated in the film composer of the year category for his work on The Fabelmans and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. The veteran composer is up against Volker Bertelmann who won the Oscar...
John Williams, Nicholas Britell and Taylor Swift are among the first wave of nominees for the World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa) 2023.
The winners will be announced at the 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards on October 21 at the Film Fest Ghent in Belgium, during which the annual celebration of film music is held.
Williams is nominated in the film composer of the year category for his work on The Fabelmans and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. The veteran composer is up against Volker Bertelmann who won the Oscar...
- 8/4/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Latest film from the Japanese director of Oscar-winner ’Drive My Car’ has also landed deals in Benelux, Portugal and Taiwan.
Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films has acquired UK and Irish rights to Venice Competition title Evil Does Not Exist, the latest feature from Oscar-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Evil Does Not Exist, which is sold by Berlin-based M-Appeal, is the story of Takumi and his daughter Hana who live quietly in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house, which offers city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature.
Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films has acquired UK and Irish rights to Venice Competition title Evil Does Not Exist, the latest feature from Oscar-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Evil Does Not Exist, which is sold by Berlin-based M-Appeal, is the story of Takumi and his daughter Hana who live quietly in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house, which offers city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature.
- 8/4/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
This year’s Venice offers the most heavy-duty fest lineup since, mmm, who can count that far, as if half the world’s big-ticket auteurs would rather take a gondola than party on a yacht. Maybe none intrigue more than Evil Does Not Exist, a surprise feature by Ryūsuke Hamaguchi and follow-up to 2021’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy / Drive My Car double bill. If fittingly little’s been said, we now have insight from an especially unique angle: a second Hamaguchi feature for 2023, itself a spin on the soon-debuting film.
Belgium’s Film Fest Gent have announced they will debut Hamaguchi’s Gift on October 18, noting it “was developed in conjunction with Hamaguchi’s new feature film Evil Does Not Exist, which takes a different approach to the same footage and scenario.” Of equal note: Eiko Ishibashi, who brilliantly scored Drive My Car––and with whom we had an...
Belgium’s Film Fest Gent have announced they will debut Hamaguchi’s Gift on October 18, noting it “was developed in conjunction with Hamaguchi’s new feature film Evil Does Not Exist, which takes a different approach to the same footage and scenario.” Of equal note: Eiko Ishibashi, who brilliantly scored Drive My Car––and with whom we had an...
- 7/25/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Berlin-based sales agent M-Appeal has sold “Evil Does Not Exist,” which will world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, to France, Italy and Spain. The film is directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose “Drive My Car” won the Oscar for International Film, was Oscar nominated for Best Picture, and earned him Oscar nominations for Directing and Adapted Screenplay last year.
“Drive My Car” premiered in Cannes Competition in 2021, winning four prizes including Best Screenplay.
Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” which also premiered in 2021, won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale.
“Evil Does Not Exist” has been co-acquired by Tucker and Teodora for Italian distribution. Tucker is specialized in Asian cinema and it handled “Drive My Car” and “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” and achieved great theatrical successes with those. Teodora is the distributor of prestigious art house films, such as recent Palme d’Or...
“Drive My Car” premiered in Cannes Competition in 2021, winning four prizes including Best Screenplay.
Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” which also premiered in 2021, won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale.
“Evil Does Not Exist” has been co-acquired by Tucker and Teodora for Italian distribution. Tucker is specialized in Asian cinema and it handled “Drive My Car” and “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” and achieved great theatrical successes with those. Teodora is the distributor of prestigious art house films, such as recent Palme d’Or...
- 7/24/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
‘Decision To Leave’ won three and Hirokazu Kore-eda named best director.
The Asian Film Awards (Afa) celebrated its comeback edition in Hong Kong tonight (March 12) and named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car best film.
The Japanese film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and won best international feature at last year’s Oscars, won a further two awards at the AFAs: best editing for Azusa Yamazaki and best original music by Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave went into the night as the favourite, with a leading 10 nominations for the South Korean film,...
The Asian Film Awards (Afa) celebrated its comeback edition in Hong Kong tonight (March 12) and named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car best film.
The Japanese film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and won best international feature at last year’s Oscars, won a further two awards at the AFAs: best editing for Azusa Yamazaki and best original music by Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave went into the night as the favourite, with a leading 10 nominations for the South Korean film,...
- 3/12/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
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