OSCARS 2024: Perfect Days (2023)

I hope this doesn't get me excommunicated from the film nerd society but I've never seen a Wim Wenders movie before. I'm certainly aware of his standing among serious cinephiles. “Paris, Texas” and “Wings of Desire” are considered classics. “Until the End of the World” is on my list of things to watch some day. However, his work has alluded me up to this point. Well, that changes now. The Academy seeing fit to nominate “Perfect Days” has finally changed that. Japan's submission for Best International Film, set in Japan, spoken entirely in Japanese, with an all Japanese cast, despite being directed by a German, the movie has been the latest critically acclaimed film to be made by Wenders. I guess now it's time for me develop an opinion on this auteur. 

Hirayama is a sanitation worker living in Tokyo. He spends his days cleaning public bathroom stalls around the city. He is a quiet, private man who speaks little. His much younger co-worker, Takashi, attempts to befriend him but Hirayama remains remote. He spends his free time taking photographs, reading, riding his bicycle, and listening to music. Sometimes, he goes to a bar and has friendly conversations with the woman who owns it. At night, he has strange dreams. His quiet existence is interrupted when his teenage niece arrives at his apartment, unannounced. This slowly begins to reveal more of Hirayama's life and past.

“Perfect Days” is an exceedingly quiet movie. Its first hour is devoted almost entirely to simply showing us what Hirayama's daily routine is. It seems most every day of his is largely the same. He gets up, shaves, buys a coffee from a vending machine, goes to work, rides his bike, goes to a public bathhouse, gets a drink, comes home, and reads until he falls asleep. On his days off, he doesn't do much besides develop photographs, which are usually of a tree in the park he works near. His apartment is small and solitary. Koji Yakusho's wide, expressive eyes suggest Hirayama has an active inner life, which is further emphasized by the glimpses we get at his nightly dreams. Yet the man's history and background remains unknown to us. 

In fact, I suspect that this is one of the main things “Perfect Days” is about. All throughout the film, Hirayama has brief encounters with the people around him. A homeless man who poses in the park for photographs, a woman who sits on a bench near him as he eats lunch, or people passing to-and-from the restrooms: He interacts with them a little, never really getting to know them. Takashi attempts to court a girl named Aya. She sits in Hirayama's van and listens to his music, crying a little, which we never learn the motivation behind. Hirayama picks up a note in the one toilet stall, playing Tic-Tac-Toe with an unseen person. We have brief encounters with other people. We see their faces, maybe talk to them or learn their names, but we can never know all of them. Everyone keeps their secrets. “Perfect Days” is all about the unknowable quality of the ordinary people we pass on the street every day. 

There's certainly a melancholy quality to “Perfect Days.” Hirayama's world seems quiet and lonely. The little bit of information we get about his life, from his interactions with his niece, suggests there's sadness and regrets in his past. He has short, meaningful conversations with people, dripping with sadness. This especially becomes the case as the film moves towards its last third. And yet, for the most part, Hirayama seems content. As the title suggest, the man seems to have more perfect days than imperfect ones. He takes joy in the simplest things. Like driving to work, listening to his favorite music, or riding his bike. The only time we really see him upset is when his co-worker quits suddenly and he has to do two people's work all by himself. And he seems annoyed more because his daily routine is interrupted by this. Maybe there's something to be said for that, enjoying consistency in our lives, every day. 

As mundane as it all sounds, there's an incredible specificity to “Perfect Days.” Hirayama takes great pleasure in everything around him. To resurrect a dead meme, he surrounds himself with objects that “spark joy.” This includes old books, an antiquated camera and faded photographs, and his favorite songs. His music, in particular, is a source of great joy. Hirayama surrounds himself with outdated technology, listening to all his albums on cassette tapes. I wasn't even sure “Perfect Days” was set in the modern century until his niece references iPhones. It seems to suggest that the protagonist walls himself off in the past. Yet, he's happy there. Maybe it's not our place to judge what makes other people happy.

Ultimately, “Perfect Days” is a beguiling, mysterious motion picture. Great emotions seem to simmer just under the surface, always out of reach of the viewer. It implies much more than it actually shows. Yet I can't help but be oddly entranced by it. The cinematography is expressive, the lighting soft and relaxed. There's a lot going on, under the surface. If nothing else, it has a pretty great soundtrack, filled with key needle drops by Patti Smith, Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, and (naturally) Lou Reed. I guess I should probably look into this Wim Wenders guy more, shouldn't I? [7/10]