SummaryHirayama (Kôji Yakusho) is content with his simple life cleaning toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Unexpected encounters reveal more of his story in a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the world around us.
SummaryHirayama (Kôji Yakusho) is content with his simple life cleaning toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Unexpected encounters reveal more of his story in a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the world around us.
By the close, the picture risks taking on the quality of those allegorical novels that provided solace in the post-hippie era. Jonathan Livingstone Lavatory Cleaner. Zen and the Art of Lavatory Maintenance. But better than that. Sharper, less sentimental, less aphoristic. A film to live your life by.
Perfect Days is another masterwork from Wenders, a recognition of life’s curiosities, the small details that make it all worthwhile, and finding beauty in the overlooked things in life.
This is a perfect story about nothing - and in that it celebrates a quiet and intentional atmosphere of an almost meditative living in the now. Don't go expecting lots of great dialogue, action, drama or much about anything that cinema is normally about. Instead, journey along with someone (unlike you've normally seen) as they meet every day with the same unbreakable calmness. It is at once beautiful, inspiring, and yet also at the same time filled with an unvoiced dread of living. I loved Wim Wenders movies, but this is something special - and it's hard to believe it wasn't made by a Japanese auteur. Just be warned however - if you're not into being at peace with the silence and minimalism, then perhaps this isn't the movie for you. Loved it... and hats off to the main actor Koji Yakusho... amazing work.
Coproduction between Japan and Germany, directed by the german director Wim Wenders (Texas Paris, Wings of Desire among others) and written by him and Takuma **** won the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for Best Actor and Ecumenical Jury and it is nominated for Academy Best Foreign Movie (my favorite for this **** tells some days at the life of a public bathroom cleaner at Tokyo, interpreted by Koji Yakusho Hirayama, as Hirayama, his daily routine and 4 events in between his usual days. It also shows how some people treat those invisible workers even in a modern civilized country as Japan.Hirayama have a simple, but happy life as he is and what his does with the maximum commitment - it is a marvelou movie about contemplation and what simple things and events can bring of happiness in the life, if you allow **** cinematography is by Franz Lustig (Anselm), and it is beautiful in using the available light and daily variations, mostly in shots with the protagonist.With a slow minimalistic story focused on this philosophy and camera work also directed to the architecture of public bathrooms, it may not be a movie for everyone. My score for it is 9,6 out of 10,0 / A+.
Perfect days is an odyssey about gratitude. About being happy. Wanting less. Living in the moment. Becoming satisfied and avoiding the hedonic traps of modern life. Brilliantly acted and filmed, with top level cinematography and a lean script that fits the movie message, this movie delivers perfecrly the little it is intended to. A solid watch for movie lovers wanting a break from loud, ambitious and overwhelming Hollywood scores.
As a review title I would use 'not **** a movie in which a pro toilet cleaner at work one would expect to learn something about how to do that. But no, the maker is not interested, what is strange, because he chose this subject for his movie. There is a lot of rubbing on clean surfaces, but what does he do with the used tissues? Are they moisturised or rinced? Probably the actor has written into his contract that he doesn't have to actually clean anything let alone something dirty. A large part of the reason the job is not an obvious career choice is because of the stench and smell. You might aswell make a movie about a garbage collector with an empty truck that only collects brand new stuff? Or a bus driver with puppets instead of real humans. And what about the physical side? The repetitive movements don't hurt? The chemicals don't bite? The people don't speak? But atleast the music is real. But I didn't run to the record store after seeing it, and that is a pity, because I can present you with a lot of great songs you never heard, and so should a movie. The old and gray they play enough on the radio, thanks, but no thanks. House of the rising song might be 'special' to the Japanese, but Wenders is not a local! Old used tapes are presented as being collectors items, but the Japanese don't like second hand, and if some do, a tape is not the most durable option. So its probably similar to the profession, listening in a way nobody with a sane mind would. The books he buys are dead cheap, but eating out every day is unlikely for people with low wages. On the other hand the birth rate in Japan is low, so human labour might be valued more **** one thing the movie could be usefull for is to show children why they better stay in school instead of leaving to early and falling into this carreer choice. But its to unrealistic for that purpose. He even has a company car he takes home, and a private parking space, in Tokio?
Still, not bad. The film is steeped in Japanese culture!
(Mauro Lanari)
"The Sky over Tokyo" (Mauro Donzelli)
Perhaps it is possible to draw a parallelism between the existential paths of Reed and Wenders: the trip, the road trilogy, "motion is emotion", then the turning point with the "Berlin transformation" (for Lou the two consecutive albums between '72 and '73, for Wim the '87 of "Der Himmel über Berlin", the peak of his collaboration with the Handke's rants), finally for both the interest in oriental philosophy and spirituality (Indian Buddhism, Chinese Taoism, Japanese Zen) strengthened by the influence of their respective wives (Laurie Anderson and Donata Wenders dedicated to meditation practices, Tibetan the former and yoga the latter). "Perfect day(s)" is not the end of their journey but the beginning of a different one, of inner distancing from the shadows of the past that can resurface oneirically as a return of the repressed but to which one must not pay attention. The Four Noble Truths of Siddhartha Gautama and the Nirvana achieved by killing the desiring subject. "Nothing is changing after all? That's just nonsense". "Why can't things just stay the same?". They are not contradictory statements if the wished change is unique and marks a definitive discontinuity, for example antithetical to that of "2001". Kubrick wanted to free Bowman from his "Groundhog Day" ante litteram and deliver him to infinite space, while these authors reject linear temporality as illusory and welcome the chronological loop of the eternal present with the appreciation of the "myricae": Nietzsche and Pascoli just to say that they are not ideas of exclusive Eastern relevance. Comparable to the 4-hour videos with aquariums or fireplaces lit available on YouTube, they seem to me like hasty renunciation, a precipitous surrender to ascetic pauperism before having reached the certainty of the inanity of the research, a potential self-fulfilling prophecy. "You don't have to believe in the exit from the tunnel, you have to furnish it and learn to live in it": an apparently senile and testamentary submissiveness that is instead increasingly found even among tiktokers. The immediate antidote: "Every Day Is Exactly the Same", NIN 2005, on Spotify.
The film seemed a bit confused (imo) At first I was going to write a review about how nice it is to watch a movie about nothing. An ordinary guy going about his life and appreciating the little things, is at first (and for most of the film) inspiring, humorous and uplifting. How nice it is to watch a movie where the roof doesn’t cave in and turn into a drama fest. For me the ending was difficult to watch and the outro song kind of rubbed me like I was watching the ending to a completely other movie. While this film was unabashed in it’s exit, it just kind of killed it for me. Still a good film. A slow burn, which is a nice change of pace sometimes (and to fall asleep to). Far from a bad film. After leaving the film, I took a two hour walk because to go to a bar after watching something like this would be difficult for me. Still reflecting on it but I’m pretty sure to say I give it a 5/10 (irony)