Drive My Car

• The film is a feat of storytelling that beautifully juxtaposes the enormity of grief with the everyday mundane.
• His new film, Evil Does Not Exist, is equally powerful in its use of juxtaposition.
• Evil Does Not Exist follows Takumi and his daughter Hana as village life is turned upside down by a large conglomerate called Playmode.

Scenes from real life

• His role as a woodcutter and water-gatherer crafts a rich tapestry of the rhythms of rural existence.
• His observations, whether about the local flora or the nuances of woodland life, resonate with the film’s understated yet profound narrative style.
• The glamping development is positioned in stark contrast to the village’s symbiotic relationship with nature.
• The company want to expand into the natural environment and bring things along that could pollute and destroy the woodland.

A changing social fabric

• The encroachment of Playmode is not just a threat to the village’s environmental harmony, but also to its social fabric.
• The company’s plans to create an enclave for tourists in the local village, is emblematic of capitalist urban expansion and shows disregard for the intrinsic value of the community’s way of life.
• The villagers’ resistance, portrayed through their articulate and passionate defence of their land and lifestyle alludes to countless real life resistances against the commodification of nature and culture.

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Oli Mould does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.