After years of making films in his native Japan, writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi found unexpected global success in 2021 with “Drive My Car.”
Adapted and expanded from short stories by Haruki Murakami, it’s an exquisite drama about a grieving theater director staging a multilingual “Uncle Vanya,” and his relationship with the pensive young woman employed to drive his cherry-red Saab.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe won the Best Screenplay prize, “Drive My Car” went on to dominate the fall festival circuit. The film clocked up an astonishing four nominations at the 2022 Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Director nod for Hamaguchi, and went on to win Japan’s first Oscar for Best International Film.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, “Evil Does Not Exist” is to some extent a response to that overwhelming acclaim. “I knew that I wanted my next work to be very...
Adapted and expanded from short stories by Haruki Murakami, it’s an exquisite drama about a grieving theater director staging a multilingual “Uncle Vanya,” and his relationship with the pensive young woman employed to drive his cherry-red Saab.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, where Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe won the Best Screenplay prize, “Drive My Car” went on to dominate the fall festival circuit. The film clocked up an astonishing four nominations at the 2022 Oscars, including Best Picture and a Best Director nod for Hamaguchi, and went on to win Japan’s first Oscar for Best International Film.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, “Evil Does Not Exist” is to some extent a response to that overwhelming acclaim. “I knew that I wanted my next work to be very...
- 4/30/2024
- by John Forde
- Indiewire
The 17th annual Asian Film Awards (Afa) announced the winners and special award recipients at a ceremony held at the West Kowloon Cultural District's Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong on March 10, 2024. Sixteen competitive prizes and six honorary prizes were given out.
A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...
A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...
- 3/11/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist was named best film at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on Sunday evening (March 10).
The Japanese drama, which premiered in competition at Venice where it won five awards including the grand jury prize, also picked up best original music for composer Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
While Hamaguchi was not at the ceremony, held in the Grand Theatre of the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the top prize was accepted in-person by Ishibashi, cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa and co-editor Azusa Yamzaki – presented by...
The Japanese drama, which premiered in competition at Venice where it won five awards including the grand jury prize, also picked up best original music for composer Eiko Ishibashi.
Scroll down for full list of winners
While Hamaguchi was not at the ceremony, held in the Grand Theatre of the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the top prize was accepted in-person by Ishibashi, cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa and co-editor Azusa Yamzaki – presented by...
- 3/10/2024
- ScreenDaily
Three rising Japanese directors have revealed details of fresh projects they pitched to potential partners at the EFM in Berlin.
Akio Fujimoto, Masaaki Kudo and Yurina Kaneko and were selected from more than 20 candidates to take part in New Directors from Japan, an initiative to promote upcoming talent on the world stage commissioned by the government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs that is now in its third year.
Fujimoto is known for family drama Passage Of Life, which won two awards at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017, followed by Along The Sea, which premiered at San Sebastian in 2020 and went on to win numerous awards.
Akio Fujimoto, Masaaki Kudo and Yurina Kaneko and were selected from more than 20 candidates to take part in New Directors from Japan, an initiative to promote upcoming talent on the world stage commissioned by the government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs that is now in its third year.
Fujimoto is known for family drama Passage Of Life, which won two awards at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017, followed by Along The Sea, which premiered at San Sebastian in 2020 and went on to win numerous awards.
- 2/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.
South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.
Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...
South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.
Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...
- 1/12/2024
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
At first, you might not detect the tonal deception seeded into Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Evil Does Not Exist." Yet, seemingly innocuous nature shots unfold into a thriller. With a penchant for revealing character in long takes, Hamaguchi opens "Evil Does Not Exist" with a lengthy full-shot of a forest villager, Takami (Hitoshi Omika) chopping firewood. The rustic elegance looms large in this frame. However, the forest days are numbered. Hunting gunshots cackle from the distance. Bullet-by-bullet, the ecological peace is being penetrated.
Hamaguchi's modern eco-cautionary tale (a short film concept expanded into a feature-length) does not expound grand visuals of ravaged landscapes, but rather indicates the micro-forces that are already upsetting the balance in the fictional Mizubiki Village. Among the 6,000 villagers, Takami lives his serene existence chopping firewood, performing odd jobs for his neighbors, and raising his 8-year-old daughter (Ryo Nishikawa). The villagers' bond with the land is illustrated in delicate slice-of-life strokes,...
Hamaguchi's modern eco-cautionary tale (a short film concept expanded into a feature-length) does not expound grand visuals of ravaged landscapes, but rather indicates the micro-forces that are already upsetting the balance in the fictional Mizubiki Village. Among the 6,000 villagers, Takami lives his serene existence chopping firewood, performing odd jobs for his neighbors, and raising his 8-year-old daughter (Ryo Nishikawa). The villagers' bond with the land is illustrated in delicate slice-of-life strokes,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Caroline Cao
- Slash Film
Japan heads the nominations, followed by China.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.
Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows 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.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows 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.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Amongst a typically raucous lineup at this year’s Venice Film Festival comes Evil Does Not Exist, a work in which tensions rise over little more than the placement of a septic tank. It’s the latest from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi and his first since 2021’s miraculous double-punch of Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Drive My Car. Evil concerns a clash of urban and rural sensibilities: a story about a small but hardy group of people who wish to stop the development of a glamping site. Devotees of Kelly Reichardt’s sylvan melancholies will feel perfectly at home.
A quiet, funny, confounding mystery, Evil plays out amongst the forests and streams of a remote village close to Tokyo. Tensions are raised when two representatives for the glamping company, Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani), arrive to talk things over. The locals, in particular a man named Takumi, voice...
A quiet, funny, confounding mystery, Evil plays out amongst the forests and streams of a remote village close to Tokyo. Tensions are raised when two representatives for the glamping company, Takahashi (Ryuji Kosaka) and Mayuzumi (Ayaka Shibutani), arrive to talk things over. The locals, in particular a man named Takumi, voice...
- 9/4/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
A wild deer with a hunter’s bullet in its belly may attack a human, no matter how mild its nature normally. This is one of the droplets of woodland wisdom dispensed by the otherwise taciturn Takumi (Hitoshi Omika), the woodcutter, water-gatherer and all-round odd-job-man of Mizubiki village, the setting of “Drive My Car” director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s meditative and moving, yet ultimately unsettling new feature. Takumi’s few words all relate to such matters: the flow of a stream, the thorns on a Siberian Ginseng, the tang of wild wasabi. They are pastoral litanies as spartan and lilting as “Evil Does not Exist” itself, right until a last-minute reversal calls its strange title back to mind and into question. Even if evil does not exist in this peaceful, bucolic community, injustice and animal instinct certainly do.
From the outset indicating the centrality of composer Eiko Ishibashi’s score, we...
From the outset indicating the centrality of composer Eiko Ishibashi’s score, we...
- 9/4/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
What a strange, unpredictable film Ryûsuke Hamaguchi has made to follow his rapturously received international breakthrough, Drive My Car. While Evil Does Not Exist (Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai) reins in the symphonic expansiveness of its predecessor, this more compact slow-burn drama builds its own hypnotic, changeable rhythms, along with a quiet sense of dread that sneaks up on you just as people on both sides of a conflict appear to be working toward common ground — whatever that’s worth. An ending that pushes its ambiguousness to confounding lengths will be a deal-breaker for some, but this haunting stealth thriller about violations of nature is a work of undeniable power.
If the shadow of Chekhov stretched elegantly over Drive My Car, the Japanese writer-director’s new film might almost be said to have a kinship with Ibsen, its tensions around the potential contamination of a water supply and the heated responses...
If the shadow of Chekhov stretched elegantly over Drive My Car, the Japanese writer-director’s new film might almost be said to have a kinship with Ibsen, its tensions around the potential contamination of a water supply and the heated responses...
- 9/4/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Las Vegas and Reno and midterm-election cliffhanger headlines — that’s more or less the sum of what many Americans know about Nevada. In The Great Basin, New York-based filmmaker Chivas DeVinck (The Poets) zeroes in on a section of the state’s vast rural stretches and a few of the hardy locals. With their connection to the land and their never-ending contest with the elements, these are people who are often romanticized as salt-of-the-earth emblems and, at least as often, excluded from the larger social conversation.
Anyone who’s driven Nevada’s so-called Loneliest Road in America or some other soul-testing stretch of asphalt through the unincorporated West has likely spotted an isolated house or two in the wide, wide landscape and wondered who lives there. The Great Basin offers intimate glimpses of those lives — more than an overarching argument, DeVinck’s film is a collection of vivid postcards. Working with cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa,...
Anyone who’s driven Nevada’s so-called Loneliest Road in America or some other soul-testing stretch of asphalt through the unincorporated West has likely spotted an isolated house or two in the wide, wide landscape and wondered who lives there. The Great Basin offers intimate glimpses of those lives — more than an overarching argument, DeVinck’s film is a collection of vivid postcards. Working with cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa,...
- 11/15/2022
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DialogueTalk and Circle Collective have partnered for the U.S. release of acclaimed documentary “The Great Basin.”
The documentary feature builds a complex panorama of rural Nevada through a tapestry of characters who work, live, and play there. The titular Great Basin is the location of the so-called “Loneliest Road in America” and can be seen as a microcosm of the economic, social, and ecological marginalization of 21st-century rural communities.
The film will have its U.S. premiere at the Santa Fe Film Festival this month and screen at Denver Film Festival in November, ahead of a theatrical screening Q&a tour kicking off on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, and a week-long run in Los Angeles and New York from Nov. 17. The platform theatrical release tour is being spearheaded by boutique distributor Circle Collective.
“The Great Basin” is a DialogueTalk production directed and produced by Chivas DeVinck (“The Poets”), with cinematography by Yoshio Kitagawa,...
The documentary feature builds a complex panorama of rural Nevada through a tapestry of characters who work, live, and play there. The titular Great Basin is the location of the so-called “Loneliest Road in America” and can be seen as a microcosm of the economic, social, and ecological marginalization of 21st-century rural communities.
The film will have its U.S. premiere at the Santa Fe Film Festival this month and screen at Denver Film Festival in November, ahead of a theatrical screening Q&a tour kicking off on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas, and a week-long run in Los Angeles and New York from Nov. 17. The platform theatrical release tour is being spearheaded by boutique distributor Circle Collective.
“The Great Basin” is a DialogueTalk production directed and produced by Chivas DeVinck (“The Poets”), with cinematography by Yoshio Kitagawa,...
- 10/21/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
By Sean Barry
With the release of his latest film, “Drive My Car,” filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi continues to solidify himself as one of Japan’s finest filmmakers working today. Hamaguchi’s movies are stories about people experiencing everyday struggles with a raw realism that is not often captured in Japanese cinema as often as once was. Furthermore, the acclaimed artist is also known for pictures with long runtimes. At first glance, this may seem like a detriment, yet every minute of his work is generally utilized to the fullest potential. This is perfectly demonstrated in his intimate five-hour epic “Happy Hour.”
on Amazon
Development for the movie began in 2013 during his time as an artist-in-residence at the creative arts center Kiito Design and Creative Center Kobe, where he hosted many theater workshops. He would get the project rolling when he held an improvisational acting workshop. Many of...
With the release of his latest film, “Drive My Car,” filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi continues to solidify himself as one of Japan’s finest filmmakers working today. Hamaguchi’s movies are stories about people experiencing everyday struggles with a raw realism that is not often captured in Japanese cinema as often as once was. Furthermore, the acclaimed artist is also known for pictures with long runtimes. At first glance, this may seem like a detriment, yet every minute of his work is generally utilized to the fullest potential. This is perfectly demonstrated in his intimate five-hour epic “Happy Hour.”
on Amazon
Development for the movie began in 2013 during his time as an artist-in-residence at the creative arts center Kiito Design and Creative Center Kobe, where he hosted many theater workshops. He would get the project rolling when he held an improvisational acting workshop. Many of...
- 6/17/2022
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
We live in a world now where digital systems and artificial intelligence are replacing many things in our day-to-day lives, but would we expect, or even accept, artificial intelligence taking over our art?βWell, this is the source for Yuko Watanabe’s latest short, with the ‘script’ created by the story generation software A.I. Furukoto. But can artificial intelligence teach us good ol’ humans anything about humanity?
Boy Sprouted is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Seitaro (Seitaro Hara) is a boy who lives with his mother (Kanako Higashi), and like most young boys, is not fond of a certain fruit or vegetable; in this case, tomatoes. Every day, his mother dutifully tries to encourage him to eat tomatoes in any form, yet he does whatever he can to escape. His classmates seem to have no problem eating tomatoes, so why does Seitaro? Under his T-shirt, Seitaro keeps a secret,...
Boy Sprouted is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Seitaro (Seitaro Hara) is a boy who lives with his mother (Kanako Higashi), and like most young boys, is not fond of a certain fruit or vegetable; in this case, tomatoes. Every day, his mother dutifully tries to encourage him to eat tomatoes in any form, yet he does whatever he can to escape. His classmates seem to have no problem eating tomatoes, so why does Seitaro? Under his T-shirt, Seitaro keeps a secret,...
- 3/17/2022
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
By Sayandeep Bandyopadhyay
Kingyo (which means “goldfish” in Japanese) is a short film by the Malaysian filmmaker Edmund Yeo. It is based on Yasunari Kawabata’s 1924 short story “Canaries”. His previous efforts, which include short films like “Chicken rice mystery”, “Fleeting images” and “Love suicides” showcased his talent effectively, while in “Kingyo”, his first Japanese language short film, it’s clearly visible that he has only taken his talent in the forward direction. The film, which wonderfully depicts love, loss and memories has the ability to have a longing effect on the audiences even after it’s finished.
The young female protagonist of this film, played by Luchino Fujisaki, is dressed up in a French maid’s costume offering the pedestrian a guided tour of the city of Akihabara for 10,000 ¥.She seems lost in the colourful and crowded citys as her offer is being completely overlooked. But then she encounters a middle aged man,...
Kingyo (which means “goldfish” in Japanese) is a short film by the Malaysian filmmaker Edmund Yeo. It is based on Yasunari Kawabata’s 1924 short story “Canaries”. His previous efforts, which include short films like “Chicken rice mystery”, “Fleeting images” and “Love suicides” showcased his talent effectively, while in “Kingyo”, his first Japanese language short film, it’s clearly visible that he has only taken his talent in the forward direction. The film, which wonderfully depicts love, loss and memories has the ability to have a longing effect on the audiences even after it’s finished.
The young female protagonist of this film, played by Luchino Fujisaki, is dressed up in a French maid’s costume offering the pedestrian a guided tour of the city of Akihabara for 10,000 ¥.She seems lost in the colourful and crowded citys as her offer is being completely overlooked. But then she encounters a middle aged man,...
- 5/11/2020
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
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