TIFF’23: Perfect Days and the simplicity of life
Posted September 7, 2023 4:40 pm.
Complexity has become a large part of our lives. Using numerous social medias, keeping up multiple friendships and relationships, learning all of the latest celebrity drama. It can be too much for many, who may find themselves yearning for simplicity. For the protagonist of this film, what makes a day perfect is simplicity.
https://twitter.com/JamesMackin10/status/1699884241402974664
Perfect Days is a Japanese film directed by German filmmaker Wim Wenders (who previously made Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire, and Pina). It stars beloved Japanese actor Kōji Yakusho (from Cure and Babel) as a man called Hirayama. He is an aging man working as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, living a very structured and simple life where every day is almost exactly the same. But Perfect Days depicts a slightly turbulent phase of his life, with different people coming in and out and rocking his world.
Wenders has made several films about the beauty of simplicity, such as the angel’s fascination with the people of Berlin in Wings of Desire. After several decades of honing his style, he has mastered it here. Many scenes of the film give off an ASMR quality. It becomes almost meditative watching Hirayama following his daily routine. So the moments where other characters intervene feel completely earth shattering.
Including helping out a coworker with his love life, and hanging out with the old beau of the manager of his favourite restaurant, Hirayama’s life comes alive when the routine is forsaken. The film is sparsely sound-tracked with numerous classic American musicians, all ones Hirayama plays on cassette. Whether Patti Smith or Lou Reed, the songs seem to be the perfect representation of the strange situations he continues to find himself in. Yakusho is a master of subtlety here. There’s no big emotions, but even a simple glance feels like it can change everything.
Perfect Days is simultaneously a perfect capturing of the beauty of a simple life, as well as the perfect synthesis of Wenders’ career. This is a strong film from him, and could very well be seen as his masterpiece in the decades to come. It’s a strong start from TIFF this year, this film gets a 5/5.
