Glen Grunau | President NIFSS | December 6, 2024
It was evident in the opening few minutes that Evil Does Not Exist would offer some unique challenges to the viewer. What are we to make of a movie that begins with the camera forcing us for almost 4 minutes to gaze up at a silhouette of bare trees against a dull sky with slow hypnotic music in the background? After a shot of the opening credits broke away for a second time to return to this seemingly lifeless scene, I heard the person behind me whisper to his companion "I think we've seen this before". I felt some empathy as I noticed my own restlessness. I suspected that many in the audience were thinking the same - which made me a little anxious as the one who had recommended this filmmaker to our film selection team.
The next camera shot we see is of a girl gazing skyward. It occurs to me that we had just been given the gift of seeing the natural world through the eyes of a child. So what is it about this girl that enables her to adopt such a patient observation and mindful communion with nature? I was reminded of a time as a child when I lay on the grass of a school playground for the longest time looking skyward, mesmerized by the cumulus clouds against a crystal blue sky. In our demanding agenda-driven lives as adults, is there something we can still learn from the children around us (or the child within us)?
In many ways, Evil Does Not Exist represents a genre of films that I have become increasingly attached to over the past decade - contemplative cinema. A few years ago, I found this definition of contemplative cinema on the MUBI website:
Contemplative cinema employs the use of atmosphere, mood, slow pacing, feel, sound, minimalism, and an emphasis on imagery, as opposed to dialogue.
For many, exchanging the term contemplation for mindfulness might make this genre of cinema more relatable. Harry Tuttle suggests there are 4 criteria that distinguish contemplative cinema: plotlessness; wordlessness; slowness; alienation. In looking back on the film Evil Does Not Exist, what evidence do you see of these four criteria?
Plotlessness relinquishes a cohesive story with a clear beginning and end, opting for atmosphere over drama. Themes are often left open-ended and unresolved, possibly in part because there is often no external enemy or threat to be defeated or conquered. Simplicity is paramount, with complex effects like flashbacks and multi-layered stories absent.
Wordlessness ensures a generosity of silence. Two primary distractions to contemplation or mins[-dfulness are hearing and thinking. A minimalist soundtrack and sparsity of dialogue can guard us from these distractions. Pure observation often substitutes for words in conveying meaning, with body language and facial features often the focus of the camera lens.
Many of us know that silence often aids us in the inner movement out of our thinking "monkey" mind and into a feeling attunement with our body senses and heart sense. French filmmaker Robert Bresson said, “I’d rather have people feel a film before understanding it”.
Slowness elicits a patient posture of mindful waiting in the viewer. This is achieved with slow and static camera takes that often capture a scene in its entirety. Time often seems to stand still. A sensation of “uneventfulness” is conveyed with frequent pauses and periods of apparent inactivity.
Alienation involves disconnectedness, solitude, emptiness, melancholy, even fatalism, hopelessness, and despair.
Contemplative cinema can be challenging for viewers who look primarily to their movies as a form of escape from real life. Although who among us does not enjoy a film for its entertainment and escapism value? Surely there is value in this.
Contemplative cinema is not casual escapist viewing. There is a form of courage required of the aspiring contemplative film viewer to make this descent into sparsity and alienation.
My personal project has been to define contemplative cinema and create a list of my favourite contemplative films from over the years. If you care to take the time to look at my list on Letterboxd (If there are any other Letterboxd members out there, please make yourself known), you will likely recognize many of them. Some you will not have seen at Cineplex. You are more likely to have seen them at an international film festival like TIFF or VIFF . . . .and possibly if you time it just right, you will see more just like these at the Shaw Auditorium in Nanaimo with your NIFSS community.
We on the board and film selection team thank you for watching this admittedly challenging film with us. At the least, it has provoked much conversation among the viewers who showed up on Sunday. At the most, we hope it may serve to invite you into a deeper experience of contemplation and mindfulness at the movies.