Words by William Reynolds
There’s a widespread opinion that Wim Wender’s best days are behind him. Following his 1980’s masterpieces, Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987) the vast majority of his feature films (not including his documentaries) have received largely middling critical reviews and poor audience reception. However Perfect Days (2023), which premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2023 rebuts this view with a film that rivals his best work. It was awarded with Best Actor for Koji Yakusho’ central performance and has received widespread recognition on the film festival circuit since then. This all culminated in a Best International Feature nomination at this year’s edition of the Oscars.
Perfect Days has a very simple premise. The film follows the life of a public toilet cleaner, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) in Tokyo. Wenders creates a 2-hour journey highlighting the mundanity of living: the simple acts in the routines of our lives, from waking up in the morning, buying a certain daily drink, to going to work, to reading a book in the evening. The film isn’t concerned with delving into his past, just like Hirayama, the focus is on staying in the present and appreciating the simple things in life from the beauty of the leaves on the trees to brief interactions with strangers to helping a friend in need. There’s even a charm to be found in the toilets themselves which have an architectural flair of creativity.
Perfect Days briefly alludes to Hiroyama’s past which has led to his lot in life. There’s a flicker of a woman in his dreams, and scenes like his estranged sister asking him to visit their ill father. Ultimately the film reflects Hirayama philosophy of letting go of the past. The needle drops in the film feature some beloved songs and speak to the power of music to move us. It is at times, however, a bit on the nose. The use of music exclusively in English begs the question of whether Perfect Days suffers from Eurocentrism – would a film like this work in a country without the pristine streets and pretty toilets of Tokyo?
There’s also an argument that the film glorifies the unrelenting work ethic in Japanese society. Most people working in low-paying jobs are required to work long hours in order to survive in expensive cities like Tokyo. Whilst there is something to admire about Hirayama’s ability to find beauty in the mundanity of his daily routine and take comfort from his passing human interactions, the impact of the film for me lies instead as an indictment of modern society. Perfect Days serves as a timely warning against a capitalistic society built on exponential extraction of value from labour, which results in many of us working long hours and thus being unable to find time for the cornerstone of human happiness, connection.
It’s been a few days since I watched Perfect Days and it still feels very hard to pin down and might explain the ire for some that the film is just a cheap arthouse experiment. However, that’s a reflection of what the film tries to depict. It’s the big question: what encompasses a human life? Where seemingly very little happens, its’ aftermath leads to viewer introspection. The emotional impact of the ambiguous ending, beautifully acted by Koji Yakusho, largely hinges on your own life philosophy. Do you find solace and beauty in the idea of creating a simple life, or do you find it depressing that attaining happiness requires picking at scraps within our hyper-capitalistic world?
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