Perfect Days (2023)

Is a perfect day possible when you have next to nothing? This is the profound emotional question asked by Wim Wenders and his writing partner Takuma Takasaki for the film Perfect Days, which Wenders directs. The plot is straightforward. Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) works as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, Japan, and we follow several days of his life as he moves through his structured routine. Certain things happen on different days, but we mainly observe how this man experiences life and his positive impact on others despite being primarily silent throughout the film’s runtime. We meet members of his family and work colleagues, which informs us of his character. We also learned that he loves to photograph nature and read novels by many authors.

Perfect Days is a slice-of-life movie that takes time to allow us to access someone else’s world. This type of film requires immense patience and the ability to enjoy being deeply immersed in something slow and methodical. This movie’s greatest strength and weakness is that it can wash over you quickly because you understand the formula at play. For any audience member going into this movie, it’s about whether you can learn to appreciate the mundane, often repetitive nature of how this man moves through and accesses his own life. If that is not something you can enjoy, then this movie is automatically not for you.

Audiences used to go to movies to experience something, which is part of the appeal of a Japanese slice-of-life film like Perfect Days. The experience is going on the journey with Hirayama. This movie also has a secret superpower because it allows you to look at your life and how you dedicate your time. This film reminds you what to be grateful for, and since I had the pleasure of seeing it around Thanksgiving, that’s all I could think about after it concluded regarding the value the film brought to me. For other people, this may be a powerful demonstration of the simplicity of life and how we need to appreciate it in different ways rather than sticking to a routine.

The other strength of a movie like this is the performances because they are profoundly understated. There is no high-level acting from Koji Yakusho or the rest of the phenomenal cast. Tiny moments create a much broader scope of how someone appreciates their life despite having little. Movies in this format are automatically a dime a dozen. They don’t come around very often. The only soundtrack that can be heard in this film comes from cassette tapes of different artists that Hirayama plays in his car. This film has an honest subtlety, especially once Hirayama’s niece Niko (Arisa Nakano) enters the film for the brief period that she does. You can automatically see that even though she comes from money, she likes the simple life that her uncle can provide her. They have an eager kinship because she hasn’t seen him in so long. Hirayama comes alive whenever he has the privilege of spending time with her over the few days she stays with him. Those experiences shape him, reminding him of who he was and allowing him to value who he is now. This has the same impact. I hope the movie leaves on the audience.

This film was uniquely shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. This allows the audience only to see what Hirayama experiences and nothing else. That’s ultimately how it should be because everything from his perspective has the most weight. There’s a delightful scene at the end of the movie where Hirayama comes across someone he doesn’t know who has a relationship with the owner of a bar that he frequents, and the two share a bond over how priceless and precious life is. It’s a quiet, effective scene that tells you everything you need to know about a movie like this. Moments don’t need to be big to have an impact. They must allow you the time and the energy to learn something new. Hirayama had his version of perfect days because he decided not to tether himself to anything but kindness, serenity, and sincerity. Is that the ultimate goal of perfect days? I honestly have no idea. What Perfect Days will tell audiences is don’t rush your life, or you will miss the beauty surrounding you and the aspects of your existence that make life perfect. Perfection may be hard to achieve, but the best way to find it is by reminding yourself that perfect moments exist everywhere, and watching this film was one of them. I hope other international and domestic audiences feel the same way because perfect movies may not exist. Still, this extraordinary effort in storytelling deserves to be celebrated for its look into the examined and valued life of a homely janitor.