Takumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a camping site near Takumi’s house, offering residents a comfortable escape to nature.

‘Evil Does Not Exist’ is the latest movie from Ryusuke Hamagachi, following on from his Oscar nominated ‘Drive My Car’, and it’s another really impressive movie. Taking place in a small Japanese village, the movie is essentially about a conflict that forms between the local people and real estate developers, who have ambitions to develop a ‘glamping’ site in the forestry next to the village. With a cast of non-professional actors, it largely tells the story through the eyes of a single father who lives in the village, as well as via the viewpoint of the two individuals sent by the developers to get the locals onside, and this approach makes for a thoughtful and compelling movie.

It starts slow in grounding you in its environment, but it really started to draw me in with the local community meeting which takes place around a third in and enables Hamaguchi to start to draw out his core themes. At its core, it’s a movie about the clash between a local community and big business developers but these locals aren’t NIMBYs (not in my backyard). They have genuine concerns about the development and the impact it will have on their community, lifestyle and the environment surrounding them, and aren’t objecting for the sake of it. They care about the water supply and if it’ll be contaminated by 50+ campers with an insufficient septic tank, and they question if the visitors would even contribute to the local economy or if they’d just have BBQ’s on site and damage the land.

It’s such a prescient movie with movements around the globe against overtourism and it raises valid questions about the genuine benefit of tourism on a local community. This isn’t Venice or Barcelona, but it shows even on a small scale how developments can impact on local people and the environment. I thought it was interesting that we see aspects from the side of the developers, which illuminate the ethics vs commercials arguments and gave an insight into the divide and conquer tactics proposed by the owners, which is something I can relate to through my own work (don’t worry – I’m not a nasty real estate developer for big business!). How the two individuals (from a talent agency!) sent by the developers approach the situation is nuanced and informative as to how many of these developments get pushed through, even when those proposing them are aware of the problems that may be caused.

The title is very well chosen and ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ is a really fascinating movie, so understated yet powerful, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi is developing quite the resume.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Starring: Hitoshi Omika,  Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka, Ayaka Shibutani, Hazuki Kikuchi, Hiroyuki Miura, Yûto Torii, Takako Yamamura, Takuma Nagao, Yoshinori Miyata and Taijirô Tamura

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt28490044/