Sometimes it takes a bit of serendipity for something great to happen. Japanese composer and musician Eiko Ishibashi asked director Ryusuke Hamaguchi to create visuals for a series of concerts. The resulting 30-minute short film, »Gift«, in turn inspired the filmmaker to make his feature film »Evil Does Not Exit«, an ecological thriller critical of capitalism. Eiko Ishibashi composed the soundtrack for the film. It’s their second collaboration, after the Oscar-winning »Drive My Car« in 2021.
The result of this unplanned artistic cross-pollination is another post-genre masterpiece from the Japanese artist in which violin, cello, guitar (played by Ishibashi’s long-time partner Jim O’Rourke), drums, keyboards and synthesizers form in different contexts, only to dissolve again in the next track. »Evil Does Not Exist« has a lot to offer: orchestral string splendour, chamber music reminiscent of Romanticism, a link to the European avant-garde and a certain ambient drone. It’s poetry turned into music.
