Evil Does Not Exist (2023): Review

Stub • 679 Words • Film, 2025 • 12/24/2025

⚠️ This post contains a rougher cut of my thoughts on the topic and may be updated in the future. Please forgive any mistakes or lack of polish!

A quiet film where the camera follows slowly and the subjects aren’t always in the center of the frame and where the shots linger on nature.

The camera work is just incredible in this movie:

The shots where the camera on the back of the car are great
The starbursts of the car headlights are so beautiful
Framing through the trees and brush is so interesting
- Are the humans or the nature the subject? Like the forest tracking shot where the bank obscures the people
A lot of tracking shots

Editing and Score:

scenes are sometimes cut abruptly (music too) but then next shot starts slowly
The score is haunting but not outright discordant, it definitely adds to atmosphere
I feel like the average shot length is pretty long which creates the rhythm and atmosphere
- The pacing is definitely very slow for the first half of the movie
Some slight surrealism:
- Hana dream sequence
- Kids playing red light green light
- Finding Hana sequence

Environment and Capitalism:

glamping and the urbane sophistication provides a good juxtaposition to the state of nature and deer hunting countryside etc
capitalism and cost cutting with the septic tank as well as environmental externalities
raising environmental issues sounds hysterical and emotional for some reason have been coded as caring too much
the two of the employees are part of the problem but also scapegoats
- they’re doing all this and they say that they’re gonna get paid that much
water flows downhill like time too and everything has downstream consequences
being upstream means you have responsibilities of care
an eco-parable about the subtle insidiousness of capitalism that is more understated than The Lorax
- “a little pollution won’t affect the water”
corporate speak and like talking to a wall of fake sincerity
the president who doesn’t seem too bright and is focused on the sunk costs and greed seems like he might be disgraced
the obviousness of it all with no sugar coating internally with the consultant

Character Writing:

his co worker seems innocent but maybe not as much in actuality she did choose the job after being a care worker so maybe she ran out of empathy she did seem to care about the villagers tho
the characters slowly become enamored with the slower country life
- first time hearing gunshots
- the man’s lack to skill at chopping wood isn’t to emasculate him but more so to demonstrate his lack of connection to nature but takumi has a great teaching ability to bring ppl into nature
takumi is curt and in some ways seems endlessly patient while also being kind of always annoyed at you
the talent company and the talent manager being about ambition and taking advantage of situations and opportunities (like the subsidies?)

The Ending:

It is confusing in that’s a bit surreal, but not entirely crazy to piece together.
While it is a bit of a senseless tragedy, it isn’t without establishment like him forgetting her before, the village elder warning her to not go alone, and the dead fawn repeated imagery.

Dialogue:

There isn’t a lot of dialogue, but the stuff that is there is very nice and tight.
- The car scene sheds more of the character background and motivations
- The town meeting and Zoom meeting are both very pointed and smooth
I found it interesting that most of the talking is done inside (car, community center, office, house).

Open Questions:

This film feels different in both tone and content than his other movies.

To me a lot of his films deal with love and relationships, but this does deal with familial relationships and as well as humanity to nature.

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