Perfect Days

Perfect Days (2023) This latest offering from acclaimed German director Wim Wenders (he of ‘Paris-Texas’ (1984) and ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ (1999) fame). Set in Japan, his film follows Hirayama, a middle-aged serene and modest man, who travels around as a cleaner for Tokyo’s many public toilets. He balances this structured life with a passion for music, literature and photography. As he encounters others on his daily routine his own hidden past is slowly revealed in this thoughtful satisfying film, highlighting a man with a rich interior life. With a fabulous soundtrack from the 60s and 70s, Lou Reed features of course, the whole package is truly magical viewing.

‘Wim Wenders best film in years…’ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

A:   A strangely moving film! I was spellbound by the principal character and the gentle pace. (A)  .A truly memorable film. Great actor with few words. (A)  Very immersive! A lot of un-answered questions. But you sort of realise you don’t need to understand everything going on in the end. Beautiful cinematography and amazing acting! (A)   Just perfect. (A)    Beauty in details. Beautifully shot. Great soundtrack. (A)  Loved the pace, the themes and the music! (A)     So peaceful and engaging. Thank you (A)  Enjoyed it. Full of good thoughts. (A)       Very enjoyable – Different (A)        Uplifting – challenging and absorbing to see joy in his job (A)     
Koji is unbelieveable as Wim Wenders said. (A)  A longer version of Groundhog Day from a Tokyo toilet cleaner’s viewpoint. (A)  Fabulous photography, lovely story, so evocative of Japan. (A)    Beautifully photographed film  (A) Amazing. (A)   Moving film. He made a life after whatever happened in the past. He became or perhaps always was an optimist who accepted the life he had (A)  Having been to Tokyo, I really enjoyed it. The toilets were wonderful there! (A)  Calming, peaceful and shimmering (A)   Audaciously simple – beautiful + sad (A)    Wenders certainly has the shots. Excellent (A) What a star the lead is!! (A)     Great – good look at Japanese way of life. A little too long perhaps. (A)
A glimpse of Tokyo. A lot to be said for minimalist routine – Sooner or later you confront yourself. I wish we would have had the shadow info at the beginning.  (A) I think in England he would have been ticked off for over cleaning the toilets, setting too high a bar. (A)       Now there’s something we’ve lost in this country – simple satisfaction at a job well done! A boring life? No! A simple pleasure in simple rhythm of life. Life affirming film. (A)  Extraordinary – attenuated – real time. AND THE MUSIC. A musical about toilets. Who’d have thought it! (A)                                                                      

B: A lesson in appreciating simple things. (B) Strange gentle and mesmerising – great guy & great acting/ music (B)     The story unfolded with masterful pacing. The shadow theme tracing through was wonderful. (B) Beautiful soundtrack (B) Brilliant soundtrack. Loved it. (B)  Insight into Japanese. (B)   Great film an life and contentment. So many unanswered questions! Wonderful public loos! (B) Wonderful music, filming was superb and intriguing plot. (B)
Most enjoyable-somehow very uplifting. (B)  A charming, lovely and beautiful film. (B)  Quiet – interesting. (B)
Great soundtrack, great cinematography …but left me feeling sad (B)  Refreshingly simple but with many layers and hence questions.  A real ‘arty’ film –  Toilet envy! (B)

C:  Gloriously mundane (C)    Good but quite sad. (C) Simple, gentle, dignified. (C) Quiet, gentle, handsome man (C) Despite his talents, life is too short to watch Wim Wenders films. (C) Lovely scenery + music but found the film hard to grasp in terms of true meaning. (B) Good insight into Tokyo life (C) Thought provoking (C)  An interesting study but would have benefitted from more about background. (C)

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