London Film Festival Winners: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ Wins Best Film Award, Palestinian Pic Takes Doc Award
deadline.comJapanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi has clinched the best film award in the main official competition of the 67th London Film Festival with his latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist.
The enigmatic pic is Hamaguchi’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Drive My Car and follows young father 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. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
The festival jury, headed by Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante (Lost in the Night), alongside Kate Taylor, program director of the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival, and English novelist Niven Govinden (Diary of a Film), described Evil Does Not Exist as “subtle” and “cinematic.” “Underscored by fully realized performances, Hamaguchi’s assured drama supersedes the sum of its parts.
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