WELCOME TO OUR NEXT SCREENING
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's
EVIL DOES NOT EXIST
(悪は存在しない – Aku wa sonzai shinai)
(USA | 2023 | 106 mins | PG violence)
Wednesday 20 May at 7.15pm
University of Otago’s Colquhoun Lecture Theatre**
A modern eco-fable that provides a gorgeous meditation on humanity’s relation to nature and an unnerving commentary on the price of progress.
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| | “Set in a small rural village a short drive from Tokyo, Evil Does Not Exist follows taciturn woodsman Takumi (a splendid debut by Hitoshi Omika) as he is inadvertently embroiled in plans to bring a high-end glamping retreat to the isolated idyll. Not only is the single father’s placid daily life of wood-chopping and child-rearing set to be upended, but the entire village’s delicate subsistence is threatened by this urban intrusion. Explored in long, languorous shots, Harasawa seems to be a town outside of time, its residents living in gentle symbiosis with their environment. But the community is thrust into a very specific present when representatives of Tokyo company |
| Playmode arrive to fast-track a ruinous project in order to take advantage of post-pandemic government subsidies… Hamaguchi slowly steers the film away from simplistic morality tale, imbuing every character with such generous empathy that passing judgement becomes as difficult as untangling the interactions between culture and the natural world. Beautifully lensed and deliberately paced, Evil Does Not Exist starts as a gentle stroll through a world of flawed heroes, complicit victims, and vacillating villains, before pitching towards a startling crescendo” – Adrian Hatwell, Whānau Mārama NZIFF 2024. |
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FURTHER REVIEW
"This idyllic spot, with a deer trail, is a short drive outside Tokyo: Takumi apparently makes a living chopping wood and gathering clear water from a stream in billy cans for a local noodle restaurant for whom this is an essential ingredient, far superior to mere tap water. Inevitably, this paradise can’t last: Takumi is already slightly uneasy at the gunshot-sounds of people hunting nearby... Hamaguchi takes all this at an absolutely unhurried pace, like that of a twig floating downstream. There are long stretches in which his camera will gaze up at the sky while drifting through the forest, and the musical score will sometimes hard- |
| cut to silence at the end of a sequence like this... Most cinema signposts everything and – to quote the phrase apocryphically attributed to Billy Wilder – makes everything obvious, especially the subtleties. This isn’t what Hamaguchi is doing: his movie is closer to a prose poem, in which the larger building blocks of narrative might not fit together in the expected way but be as mysterious and extraneous as glancingly small details. I’m not sure that Evil Does Not Exist is the very best of his work, but it is presented with such calm assurance and artistry that it compels a kind of wistful, if uncomprehending, assent" – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian. |
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ABOUT THE DUNEDIN FILM SOCIETY
ADMISSION
Free to members.
TO JOIN
To purchase a Full/Half Season membership:- complete a membership form from our website and pay by online bank transfer (06-0942-0696013-00);
- or join at the door before any screening (cash only).
- you can also join at the OUSA office reception at the University of Otago (cash only).
Alternatively, you can purchase a Three-Film sampler ($25), which can be also be shared to bring two friends to one screening. The sampler does not expire and can be used over multiple years.
Membership includes generous discounts at Rialto Cinemas (from Monday to Friday) and the 2026 Dunedin Whānau Marama New Zealand International Film Festival; and FREE entry to the 2026 screenings of all other affiliated New Zealand Film Societies. Each member is entitled to ONE FREE GUEST ADMISSION to a single screening.
**To get to the Colquhoun Theatre: The Colquhoun is located on the first floor of the current Dunedin Public Hospital, above the chapel and squash courts. Stairs and lift access are from the main Hospital entrance on Great King Street.
WE WELCOME YOUR FEEDBACK!... on this screening, or any other Dunedin Film Society showing, on dunedinfi...@gmail.com –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– |
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