We open on a long, steady tracking shot through the woods, the camera peering upward through a thin tree canopy into a bright winter sky.
Gently swung cymbal triplets trickle up from the ground, followed by a pristine electric guitar from above, and symphonic strings that seep in through the sides and slowly saturate the mix.
We follow the wandering lens and the hypnotic strings until they cut off abruptly, leaving us suspended in midair for a moment before we fall, quickly but not painfully, to the forest’s frozen floor.
The film is Evil Does Not Exist, renowned Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s second feature scored by Japanese composer Eiko Ishibashi.
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