Movie number 20 of 2024
The Movie: Perfect Days
The Cinema: Palace Kino Cinemas, Collins Street
Stars: 5
It is wonderful to be surprised by a film. Perfect Days took my breath away. It is a seemingly quiet little film that packs an incredible wallop. What's more amazing is that for the first hour of the film there's next to no dialogue, and what is spoken is in Japanese (with subtitles). And yes, I was happy to go and see this at the local art house cinema, particularly as Wim Wenders wrote and directed the film.
Hirayama (Koji Yakosho) is a man of strict habits. He wakes, makes his futon, he dresses, cleans his teeth, gets ready to fact the day, grabs a can of coffee from the machine outside his door and goes to his work as a cleaner of Tokyo's public toilets. He barely says a word to anybody. He doesn't his work willingly, showing a great sense of pride. He loves his music, which he plays on cassettes in his van as he goes from job to job around Tokyo. He shows a great deal of patience as he deals with his rambunctious workmate, Taskashi (Tokio Emoto). He reads old classics bought at second-hand bookstores. He eats at the same food concessions and goes to the same laundromat and bar on the weekends, to which he rides his bike.
It's only when some happenings change his routine do we get to more about this humble, yet enigmatic man.
And I will say no more about the plot, which feels non-existent until you work out that watching Hirayama going through his day is a meditation on life in itself. You don't really know what happened to him to put him in this situation (I mean, he's reading Faulkner, he's unfailingly kind, and yes, he has boundaries, but he is generous). The last five minutes of the film, where he drives around in his van are a masterpiece in character acting.
This is an awesome film on so many fronts, from the unexpected cinematography to the views of a very unseen Toyko, to the second half of the film where a number of occurrences take Hirayama out of his comfort zone, only to let him self-reflect on his life and the world arounds.
This is Wim Wenders' love song to a Tokyo that is rarely shown. It's a love song to the simple man who is happy with his lot. And it pays a great deal of attention to the tapes that live in his car, giving we Generation X viewers a great deal of nostalgia.
Perfect Days is on wide release at the art house cinemas around town. It's been out for a while.
Catch this before it leaves the cinemas. It is an absolute gem.
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