26 October 2023, 08:00 PM
Director
Country
Genre
Runtime
Language
Rating
Wim Wenders
Germany, Japan
Drama
123 minutes
Japanese with English subtitles
PG (Brief Nudity)
Awards
Main Summary
Wim Wenders’ latest film, Perfect Days, introduces Hirayama, an unassuming toilet cleaner burdened by his past. Against the backdrop of Tokyo’s towering Skytree, Hirayama’s monotonous life is accompanied by meticulously curated soundtracks punctuating his daily commutes. Upon his niece’s unexpected arrival, he faces a pivotal choice: continue his seemingly carefree existence or confront the shadows that haunt him.
A man of few words, Hirayama starts as an enigmatic stranger who rarely opens up. This lack of dialogue encourages the audience to feel as Hirayama does, through his choice of music from Nina Simone to Lou Reed, establishing a more intimate connection than words could achieve.
In Perfect Days, Wenders continues his fascination with cosmopolitan narratives, using sound as a key to characterisation. The Western music scene permeates Japanese society through a growing demand for vintage American cassette classics, artfully dissolving transnational boundaries between Japan and the West. The coexistence of tradition and technology is also evident in seeming opposites perceptible within Japanese society: Japan’s futuristic toilet innovations and the enduring allure of traditional bathhouses. Transcending the need for binaries, Perfect Days encourages reflection on a modern Sisyphus allegory and underscores the importance of embracing the present as it is.