X
- 2023
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 4 m
- 2023
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 4 m
Summary Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho) is content with his simple life cleaning toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Unexpected encounters reveal more of his story in a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the world around us.
Directed By: Wim Wenders
Written By: Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders
- 2023
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 4 m
- 2023
- PG
- Neon
- 2 h 4 m
Perfect Days
80
8.3
Where to Watch
Summary Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho) is content with his simple life cleaning toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Unexpected encounters reveal more of his story in a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the world around us.
Directed By: Wim Wenders
Written By: Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
80
87% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
13% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 38 Critic Reviews
80
87% Positive
33 Reviews
33 Reviews
13% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
By the close, the picture risks taking on the quality of those allegorical novels that provided solace in the post-hippie era. Jonathan Livingstone Lavatory Cleaner. Zen and the Art of Lavatory Maintenance. But better than that. Sharper, less sentimental, less aphoristic. A film to live your life by.
Perfect Days is another masterwork from Wenders, a recognition of life’s curiosities, the small details that make it all worthwhile, and finding beauty in the overlooked things in life.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 60 User Ratings
8.3
92% Positive
55 Ratings
55 Ratings
8% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 60 User Ratings
8.3
92% Positive
55 Ratings
55 Ratings
8% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
This is a perfect story about nothing - and in that it celebrates a quiet and intentional atmosphere of an almost meditative living in the now. Don't go expecting lots of great dialogue, action, drama or much about anything that cinema is normally about. Instead, journey along with someone (unlike you've normally seen) as they meet every day with the same unbreakable calmness. It is at once beautiful, inspiring, and yet also at the same time filled with an unvoiced dread of living. I loved Wim Wenders movies, but this is something special - and it's hard to believe it wasn't made by a Japanese auteur. Just be warned however - if you're not into being at peace with the silence and minimalism, then perhaps this isn't the movie for you. Loved it... and hats off to the main actor Koji Yakusho... amazing work.
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шикарный фильм! настоящая игра актеров, хороший сюжет, не попсовый фильм, любителям попсы точно будет скучным.
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The film becomes a kind of meditative act.
Perhaps, in its polite and unassuming way, the film advocates not just a new way of looking, but also a new way of living.
There is real joy in how this man lives perpetually in the moment, embracing the small, unassuming pleasures of the present.
Perfect Days turns out to be a surprisingly charming, haunting, moving work with deliberate echoes of Japanese cinema legend Yasujiro Ozu.
The film’s details collectively grow absurd and pompous.
Coproduction between Japan and Germany, directed by the german director Wim Wenders (Texas Paris, Wings of Desire among others) and written by him and Takuma **** won the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for Best Actor and Ecumenical Jury and it is nominated for Academy Best Foreign Movie (my favorite for this **** tells some days at the life of a public bathroom cleaner at Tokyo, interpreted by Koji Yakusho Hirayama, as Hirayama, his daily routine and 4 events in between his usual days. It also shows how some people treat those invisible workers even in a modern civilized country as Japan.Hirayama have a simple, but happy life as he is and what his does with the maximum commitment - it is a marvelou movie about contemplation and what simple things and events can bring of happiness in the life, if you allow **** cinematography is by Franz Lustig (Anselm), and it is beautiful in using the available light and daily variations, mostly in shots with the protagonist.With a slow minimalistic story focused on this philosophy and camera work also directed to the architecture of public bathrooms, it may not be a movie for everyone. My score for it is 9,6 out of 10,0 / A+.
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With a premise that may sounds a little basic is this a film dat still knows how to keep your attention, with great cinematography, a great performance and it even gives you a little more appreciation for life.
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As a review title I would use 'not **** a movie in which a pro toilet cleaner at work one would expect to learn something about how to do that. But no, the maker is not interested, what is strange, because he chose this subject for his movie. There is a lot of rubbing on clean surfaces, but what does he do with the used tissues? Are they moisturised or rinced? Probably the actor has written into his contract that he doesn't have to actually clean anything let alone something dirty. A large part of the reason the job is not an obvious career choice is because of the stench and smell. You might aswell make a movie about a garbage collector with an empty truck that only collects brand new stuff? Or a bus driver with puppets instead of real humans. And what about the physical side? The repetitive movements don't hurt? The chemicals don't bite? The people don't speak? But atleast the music is real. But I didn't run to the record store after seeing it, and that is a pity, because I can present you with a lot of great songs you never heard, and so should a movie. The old and gray they play enough on the radio, thanks, but no thanks. House of the rising song might be 'special' to the Japanese, but Wenders is not a local! Old used tapes are presented as being collectors items, but the Japanese don't like second hand, and if some do, a tape is not the most durable option. So its probably similar to the profession, listening in a way nobody with a sane mind would. The books he buys are dead cheap, but eating out every day is unlikely for people with low wages. On the other hand the birth rate in Japan is low, so human labour might be valued more **** one thing the movie could be usefull for is to show children why they better stay in school instead of leaving to early and falling into this carreer choice. But its to unrealistic for that purpose. He even has a company car he takes home, and a private parking space, in Tokio?
Still, not bad. The film is steeped in Japanese culture!
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The film seemed a bit confused (imo) At first I was going to write a review about how nice it is to watch a movie about nothing. An ordinary guy going about his life and appreciating the little things, is at first (and for most of the film) inspiring, humorous and uplifting. How nice it is to watch a movie where the roof doesn’t cave in and turn into a drama fest. For me the ending was difficult to watch and the outro song kind of rubbed me like I was watching the ending to a completely other movie. While this film was unabashed in it’s exit, it just kind of killed it for me. Still a good film. A slow burn, which is a nice change of pace sometimes (and to fall asleep to). Far from a bad film. After leaving the film, I took a two hour walk because to go to a bar after watching something like this would be difficult for me. Still reflecting on it but I’m pretty sure to say I give it a 5/10 (irony)
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Films that feel like they're "reaching" in their attempts to make a statement can result in a frustrating watch, as is very much the case with the latest from acclaimed writer-director Wim Wenders. This character study about the life of a middle-aged public toilet cleaner in Tokyo (Koji Yakusho) follows him through his virtually unchanging daily routine of working, reading and taking nearly identical photos of trees. Even though there are minor differences in the events of his day-to-day life, much of his schedule is relentlessly the same, a comfortable yet mundane pattern that's cinematically repeated endlessly (and one can imagine what that does for holding viewer interest). He seems to purposely keep his life simple to avoid irritating complications, but that appears to be more of a way to stave off loneliness than to provide reassuring measures of certainty and predictability. He also appears to have undergone a painful (though largely unexamined) past that he's trying to escape, even though he clings to many elements that are rooted in that historical time frame (he listens to cassette tapes from the 1970s-80s, takes photos with a film camera, uses a flip phone and has little awareness about the internet). This lifestyle is presented as the source of some kind of supposedly profound wisdom, yet the insights that emerge from it are, quite frankly, innately simplistic ("the next time is the next time" and "now is now" - truly deep principles, to be sure). As a consequence, all of this makes for a rather tedious watch, one filled with story threads that go largely unexplored and, ultimately, unresolved. To its credit, the film features some fine cinematography and an excellent soundtrack, and it grows progressively more engaging the further one gets into the story (when a story actually begins to develop out of a largely flatlined narrative). But, despite these assets, much of the picture's opening half is riddled with extraneous material that could have readily been pruned. In fact, the removal of that superfluous content could have easily reduced this work down to a more manageable extended short without losing anything, a change that would have yielded a more worthwhile viewing option. I'm a longtime fan of Wenders' work, but this offering just doesn't measure up to his past releases. It's also somewhat baffling how this production has garnered as much attention as it has, such as its selection as Japan's entry in the 2023 Academy Awards' international film category, for which it garnered an Oscar nomination (amazingly beating out the far superior Japanese film "Monster" ("Kaibutsu")), as well as Yakusho's best actor award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. However, no matter how earnestly a filmmaker may strive to get his or her message across, sometimes it just doesn't work, as is the case here, and that, unfortunately, is far from perfect.
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Production Company
Master Mind,
Wenders Images
Release Date Nov 10, 2023
Duration 2 h 4 m
Rating PG
Genres
Tagline In a world of fleeting moments, find the beauty that lasts.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Cannes Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
Awards of the Japanese Academy
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
