REVIEW: Perfect Days is a simple, yet perfect film

Many of us live a life filled with routine. We wake up at the same time every day, eat the same breakfast, drive down the same streets to the job we work most days of the week. The monotony of our lives might not often be broken, making those rare moments where it is broken feel so alive. They feel momentous, and impactful.

Perfect Days is a film about the impact that the breaking of that routine can have on us. This Japanese film is directed by Wim Wenders (the filmmaker behind Wings of Desire, Pina, and Paris, Texas) and it stars one of the most acclaimed actors of modern Japanese cinema, Kōji Yakusho (from Cure and Babel). He plays an elderly man working as a toilet cleaner, his days playing out exactly the same with minimal differences between them. After this film takes the time to establish to the viewer what his day-by-day routine looks like, we then begin to see changes come in to disrupt his life and the emotions they bring.

This film is an exercise in simplicity, both in showing its routine and its divergences from routine. It doesn’t utilize any complicated camera movements, transitions, or special effects. Throughout the entire film, the viewer feels like a fly on the wall simply watching everything unfold. It finds beauty in the simplest ways. Brief connections with people and glances down the street. Moments we take for granted in our lives are given focus through this film’s camera.

Even though this is a Japanese film, it feels like a universal experience. The soundtrack utilizes many classic American rock songs by artists like Patti Smith and Lou Reed. Yakusho’s character encounters young love, children discovering the joys of nature, feelings that we don’t often think about until we’ve seen another person experiencing them. The little moments that make up our existence.

Yakusho’s performance is excellent, one which earned him the award for Best Actor at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. It’s not showy or incredibly expressive, but very minimalist. He finds and displays his power in small glances. In many ways, it feels like looking at the Mona Lisa. It’s not meant to evoke a specific feeling, but for the audience to discover a feeling within themselves and see it amplified by the work in front of them. Unlike a performance like Bradley Cooper in Maestro which is very physical and outward, this performance contains multitudes hidden within.

Even though it’s been barely seen so far (only playing at a few film festivals like Cannes and TIFF), the film has already earned a nomination for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. It’s also the first time that a Japanese film not made by a Japanese filmmaker has earned this honour, as Wenders is a notable figure of the New German Cinema movement. His direction is remarkably self-assured, it’s one of the finest films in his long career of excellent films. This film makes a fantastic companion piece to Wings of Desire, another film about the beauty of life’s simplicity.

Perfect Days is a rare experience in cinema, a film that seems to do barely anything but shows so many things we take for granted. It’s a film that many people could watch and come away with nothing because they’re used to something bombastic and spectacular. But this film is a reflection of our existence, a mirror that highlights those small moments that make up our day. It’s easy to miss perfection when you’re not looking for it. I give this film a 5/5, you can watch it in cinemas now.