In my effort to watch every Oscars nominated film I could this year, I found myself sitting down to Wim Wender’s 2023 masterpiece, “Perfect Days,” over spring break. Despite his best known work, “Paris, Texas” being considered a classic, I wasn’t the biggest fan of his or much of what he had made in the past. However, as soon as I finished watching “Perfect Days,” I immediately put it in my top four favorites of all time and sat down for a second viewing. I watched it three times that week.
“Perfect Days,” a nominee for best international feature in this year’s Academy Awards, tells the story of two weeks in the life of a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, Japan. Kōji Yakusho plays the cleaner, Hirayama, in a performance that ranges from quiet and contemplative to, well, still quiet and contemplative but also a little bit sad. It is a slow, slice of life movie, one of my favorite types of movies, and is a masterclass within the genre. Hirayama’s days consist of following the same routine: waking up with the sun, watering his plants, driving to work, cleaning the same public toilets in the same section of the city, eating lunch in the same park, returning home to his small second floor apartment, bathing, and reading till he’s tired enough to fall asleep. He enjoys photography, frequenting the same restaurants and faces in his free time, and caring for the saplings he picks up throughout his days. This calm, sincere repetition was my primary take away from the film. I fell in love with his commitment to order and routine, goals I have for my own life that continuously escape me as I live the hectic college life. As a viewer, I settled into the patterns and the movie welcomed me to do so. The first half of the movie is comparably unremarkable and consists solely of Hirayama’s routine barring a few hiccups like his more overexcited younger coworker’s money problems. Noticing Hirayama’s extensive cassette tape collection, he gets some appraised and is eager for Hirayama to sell them.
This brings me to another highlight of Hirayama’s life. It is almost completely analog. His books, music, camera, and even dreams are archaic and from decades ago. He watches no television, owns a flip phone out of necessity, and has no idea what Spotify is. I was inspired. I recently had gone on an unrelated exploration of agrarian thinker and novelist Wendell Berry and “coincidentally” becoming disillusioned and disappointed with social media and how the internet has changed society for the worse. Hirayama’s simpler life showed a path forward, again unlikely in today’s day and age but nevertheless, inspirationally still possible.
His tapes and music are the life of the movie and the driving montages accompanied by his classic Rock, acoustic soundtrack are some of the best scenes, both giving you a feel for his slice of Tokyo and how he’s feeling in the moment. The soundtrack isn’t revolutionary but fits the character and provides insight to what makes him get up in the morning. Hirayama is not a recluse but is comfortable with his independent, simple life. Bit by bit throughout the movie, we get hints to a life he had before what we see, especially when his niece comes to stay with him after running away from home. The movie’s slow pace doesn’t change but we get to see Hirayama through the eyes of someone else and her presence opens him up a bit more to us. Hirayama’s life doesn’t drastically change over the course of the film but by the end, he is one of the most human and fleshed out characters I had seen in some time.
I can’t recommend this movie more, especially if you are in need of a relaxing watch. “Perfect Days”’ atmosphere is as warm and joyful as the routine it portrays is steady and predictable. It is an ode to the ordinary and the beautiful, perfect, normal days. “Perfect Days” is available to rent wherever you are able to rent movies and is still available in some theaters.