Perfect Days
Composite Score: 84
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, Shunsuke Miura, Atsushi Fukazawa, Masahiro Kômoto, Aoi Yamada, Aoi Yoshida, Sayuri Ishikawa, Yumi Asô, and Tomokazu Miura
Director: Wim Wenders
Writers: Wim Wenders and Takuma Takasaki
Genres: Drama, Slice of Life
MPAA Rating: PG for some language, partial nudity, and smoking
Box Office: $22.33 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Perfect Days is Wim Wenders’s film about a Japanese sanitation worker in Tokyo, following his daily life and interactions with his family and acquaintances. The film stars Koji Yakusho in the lead role of Hirayama, said upper-middle aged toilet cleaner whose personality revolves around being excellent at his work, routine, and a love of cassettes, reading, and plants. Through his interactions with coworkers, proprietors of his favorite businesses, family members, and random passersby, Wenders crafts a slice of life film that invites us to appreciate the deviations from the norm as what makes life worth living, especially in the midst of routine and mundane experiences. The quiet and contemplative film garnered much critical success, winning the Ecumenical Jury Prize and Best Actor at Cannes and receiving an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film, representing the nation of Japan.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Like most of Wenders’s works, Perfect Days requires a certain level of discipline and openness to the film in order to get the most out of it. A first act whose dialogue doesn’t really start until five minutes in, a protagonist with maybe forty lines of dialogue for the entire film, and a focus on routine and breaks in that routine can make for a difficult watch if the audience is looking for something more upbeat or plot-focused. Perfect Days invites the audience to contemplate and breathe and search for meaning in the little things rather than presenting a clear conflict (though Hirayama’s development and the unfolding of his character certainly presents a basic internal plot structure). An audience looking for the “story” within Hirayama’s days will have missed the point of the film that Wenders has made, so it’s important to go in with that in mind.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
The entirety of Perfect Days can be summed up in a single quote from the film: “Next time is next time. Now is now.” The film invites you in every frame, every scene, every interaction to remain in the present with Hirayama. Next time (the future or the next day or however you want to frame it) isn’t happening right now, so appreciate where you’re at, whether that means playing a contactless game of tic-tac-toe with a stranger or smiling at the person eating across the park from you or simply enjoying the music you listen to on your way to work. Everything that Wenders has put into this film reminds us that every day can be a perfect day, even when it doesn't go exactly as planned. Koji Yakusho aids in delivering this message with a performance that, though small in words, conveys this wonder and appreciation for the little things, for the little differences in the day-to-day routine. It’s a deeply expressive performance that perfectly captures the essence of the film that Wenders has crafted, showcased especially in the film’s final, emotion-filled shot.
With a pitch-perfect leading performance from Koji Yakusho and a message of appreciation for the everyday and taking joy in the very act of living, it’s easy to see how Perfect Days earns its spot among the Greatest Films of All Time. Its slice-of-life approach rather than plot-focused, might be off-putting for some viewers, but if you take the time to take it in, you just might come out on the other side with a refreshed perspective. Currently, this film is still showing in some theaters around the U.S., and it is available to rent on most streaming services if you’d prefer that method of checking it out.
