Evil Does not Exist - Monday Cinema

Writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s much anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-winning Drive My Car traces the sensitive dispute between residents of a serene rural village and the city-based talent agency whose proposed plans for a luxury camping site threaten their way of life.

As with his previous film, Hamaguchi has once again crafted a modern fable with mythic implications springing from the mundane, as rote bureaucratic efforts towards understanding patiently crescendo to a cosmic meditation on our place in the universe.

Evil Does Not Exist feels wholly singular in the way it depicts classical themes of nature versus industry and will give audiences much to ponder.

Awards: Grand Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival (2023)

Content Advisory Brief violence

Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi / Featuring: Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa, Ryuji Kosaka / Japan /Japanese / 106 minutes / Rating: Not Yet Rated

“This is an instant-masterpiece worthy of intense debate in which every side will have a valid point.” - Globe and Mail “Hamaguchi gives us characters who are too complicated and richly drawn to be reduced to any one type.” - NPR

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVY4lWfrbME

Buy Tickets

The Monday Cinema series is part of the Toronto International Film Festival Film Circuit and is presented by Trail and District Arts Council at The Royal Theatre, 1597 Bay Avenue, Trail. Film begins at 4:00 pm.

Tickets $13 at tickets.trail-arts.com or call the Box Office at 250-368-9669 Monday to Friday from 12-4 pm.

Only 143 tickets are available for this screening. If tickets are available, they will go on sale at the venue when the doors open 30 minutes before the screening.

Films in the Monday Cinema series this Fall

Thelma: October 7: After losing $10,000 to a phone scam, 93-year- old Thelma Post embarks on a quest to get her money back. A clever, hilarious spin on the action film genre, as Thelma becomes an unlikely action hero in search of her money.

No film Oct. 14.

Ghostlight: October 21: When a melancholic middle-aged construction worker finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter after his son’s suicide, he discovers community and purpose in a local theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet.

Food Inc. 2: October 28: An engaging sequel to the 2008 Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary, looking at workers’ rights, food sustainability, and innovative farming technologies, showing how current systems have tightened their stronghold on food production and our futures.

The Old Oak - November 4: Ken Loach’s final feature takes place in and around a pub in a northern English village. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, local residents, fueled by prejudice, take out their anger and resentment on the community’s newest inhabitants.

No film Nov. 11.

The Great Escaper - November 18: Bernie, a veteran who served in the Second World War, hopes to attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day, but the tours are all booked up. Encouraged by his wife Rene, he decides to make his own way from England to France.

Evil Does Not Exist (foreign language) - November 25: Writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s much anticipated follow-up to the Oscar-winning Drive My Car traces the sensitive dispute between residents of a serene rural village and the city-based talent agency whose proposed plans for a luxury camping site threaten their way of life.

Sing, Sing (TBC) - December 2: Based on the real-life arts rehabilitation programme founded at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the film follows a troupe of incarcerated actors who work on plays as part of a workshop at the prison. When a new member joins, the group’s dynamic shifts as the men unpack the pain of their experience while undergoing the joy and escape of creativity.

Café Daughter - December 9: Based on the Kenneth T. Williams' play of the same name and inspired by true events, Café Daughter is a coming-of-age story about a young Chinese-Cree girl in Saskatchewan who begins to embrace her Cree identity after a family tragedy.