By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.4 cats
Director: Wim Wenders
Starring: Aoi Yamada | Arisa Nakano | Koji Yakusho | Tokio Emoto | Yumi Asô
Year: 2023
Running time: 123
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27503384/reference/
Brett says: “Wim Wenders’ PERFECT DAYS is a depiction of the ordinary, transforming it into a feeling of extraordinary through the power of cinematic language. It is a film with very limited dialogue from the protagonist Hirayama, a janitor who is a kind of anti-Odysseus, leaving home each day to tackle toilet-cleaning like it’s a mythological beast begging to be tamed. Classic rock, Motown, and alternative cassette tapes from–mostly–the 1970s frame each day’s routine and attempt to elevate the important, yet mundane, work at hand. This plot device proves pivotal for the film’s attempt to build a moving crescendo all the way to the last shot of the film.
“Coinciding with the commitment to the music framework, the film follows a chorus-verse-chorus-verse pattern; the opening fifteen minutes or so serve to establish a familiar ‘chorus’ of Hirayama’s days, a tune that will repeat without fail while small variations fill the rest of his time, forming the verses between work and the time to close his eyes at night once again and return to the refrain.
“The film is predominantly pure cinema, relying on formal elements to tell the story rather than dialogue. Although Hirayama doesn’t say much at all, there are thoughts, feelings, perhaps even aspirations tucked away in his otherwise apparent stoicism. Perhaps the most enriching subplot along these lines is Wenders’ ability to juxtapose modernity with the natural world. Many of the most profound moments in Hirayama’s days occur when he observes a tree or the natural canopy in a park, all existing in the same place as the days before, repeating routine just as the man himself amid a hustle-and-bustle society, yet content and significant in its own space nonetheless. A clever contrast to this comes when Hirayama traverses modern freeways to get to this everyday series of destinations and among the most prominent of these sights is the Tokyo ‘Skytree,’ an architectural marvel that serves as the modern tree-line and canopy replacement. Even a little tongue-in-cheek is how the very toilets that he cleans are engineered to be aesthetically excessive, visually stimulating, and a tribute to humankind’s attempt to rejoice in its own triumph over something ‘yucky’ like natural digestion. All that humankind would’ve needed at one point is just outside in the form of a tree. Yet, here he is, making a porcelain paradise out of his efforts, matching that natural world with perfect cleaning habits.
“Outside of the natural and modern world contrast motifs, time also plays a major role in the protagonist’s quiet reflections. He is a man isolated in the here and now, although he is not without family, just distanced from them. Hints about his current condition make their way into the film, and it is this time motif that might give the audience one of the closest indicators as to why. One of the most profound understatements in the film is that ‘now is now,’ even though it might not mean much on the surface. Who he was is not who he is. Even in his daily routines, he appreciates what seems like identical experiences from the day before because they are all in the ‘now.’ Wenders also directs this motif to make Tokyo beatific and fresh each day in its contradictory static metropolis existence. It is highly ironic and a bit humorous that the artistic medium to pull this off is rooted in a toilet collage.
“A few characterizations in the film deviate from the pure cinema style at times. In particular, a supporting character feels like he is an eccentric sidekick clipped from a cartoon. While it’s evident that this is meant to provide another contrast in modernity, the tonal shift and incongruent performance style any time that the character is on screen is quite jarring at times and almost takes away from the deliberateness the audience has experienced up to those points.
“One other noticeable tonal shift that is quite majestic–in contrast to the questionable characterization described above– involves Wenders’ minimalist dream/sleep sequence depictions. There is Maya Deren surrealistic quality and style to them, never carrying full and clear meanings, but nevertheless insightful on a poetic level and cathartic at the end of each day.
“PERFECT DAYS is an unconventional travelogue. Although the protagonist does not venture out into the physical unknown, he is finding something new in the everyday sameness of his life. 4 cats out of 5“
Diane says: “So great to see this on the big screen plunked in a theater seat–since the pace and minimal dialogue might entice one to take breaks during a home screening. Brett, thanks for the chorus-verse concept.
Michael says: “Who knew Wim Wenders could make such a beautiful Japanese film? When Tokyo built a bunch of architecturally beautiful public restrooms in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, which then didn’t happen because of the pandemic, they reached out to Wenders to ask him to do something… a documentary, a book, a series of essays, to commemorate them. The director travelled to Tokyo and toured all of the restrooms and met the staff that cleaned and cared for them. He decided the best way to honor their existence was to create a narrative around one of the caretakers.
“Enter Japanese actor extraordinaire, Koji Yakusho. The star of SHALL WE DANCE, THE THIRD MURDER, 13 ASSASSINS, BABEL, and MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, brings a beautiful gentleness and presence to the restroom caretaker as he follows his daily routine, waking, brushing his teeth, getting his coffee from the vending machine, and setting out to rigorously and carefully clean the public toilets throughout the city. Along the way he listens to his 70’s audio cassettes in his car while he travels around the city, photographs the sunlight through the branches of the trees in the park, enjoys his milk and store bought sandwich for lunch and quietly observes the antics of his talkative co-worker. His routine includes a visit to a local bar where he is well taken care of, and on his days off, a trip to the baths, the local bookstore where he purchases one of the books on the sale rack, and enjoys dinner at a local bar run by an attractive woman with whom he nearly flirts with.
“It’s all so quotidian, and a celebration of living in the moment, but it unfolds with such care and beauty that you will be tricked into thinking you are watching something much more magnificent. Then the arrival of his niece upends his standard routine, you see glimpses of a life he left behind and is reluctant to return to, made manifest in a heartbreaking embrace. Halfway through TIFF, it remains my top film of the festival (although Koreeda screens tomorrow!) 5 cats”
Chris says: “Well, this was an unexpected late-career triumph from Wim Wenders, who arguably hasn’t made a good narrative film in over three decades; that it’s simply a character study about Hirayama, an aging man who cleans Tokyo public toilets for a living only adds to its allure. Featuring a powerful lead turn from SHALL WE DANCE star Kōji Yakusho, this might be the closest Wenders has come to successfully making ‘slow cinema’. Scene after scene unfolds of Hirayama methodically cleaning a wide array of the city’s public toilets (many of them built for the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics) with pauses for how he spends his leisure time by bicycling, picking up paperbacks from his favorite book store, reading them as he has lunch in a leafy, secluded spot and listening to music on cassette tapes while driving through greater Tokyo. It’s this last activity that’s most significant–not only does it give an outsider a vivid sense of what the city is really like, the music (mostly English-language rock from the 60’s and 70’s) and its curation almost tells a parallel story. I’ve rarely seen such an extensive depiction of a character’s relationship to music and how it informs and fortifies his well being. While overall this could’ve been perhaps 20-30 minutes shorter, it feels hypnotic if you stick with it. The last shot, which returns to gentle, beatific yet undeniably human Hirayama and his music is a great one and also confirmation that Yakusho has given perhaps a career-best performance. 4.5 cats
“Screened at IFF Boston 2023 Fall Focus; opens theatrically later this year (date TBD).”