‘Perfect Days’ Review: Wim Wenders’ Japanese Odyssey Is A Small But Gentle Wonder – Cannes Film Festival
deadline.comThe dignity of labor is explored with gentle humor and a very melancholy sense of joie de vivre in Wim Wenders’ second 2023 Cannes entry after his 3D documentary Anselm.
Shot entirely in Japan, with very little English spoken, Perfect Days is an unusual film from a westerner since it does nothing to “other” a country that is often romanticized as a series of specific cultural signifiers (as in the well-meaning Lost in Translation, for example).
It’s a compliment to say that Jim Jarmusch could have made it. The working title for the film was apparently Tokyo Toilet, the name of the company that employs the film’s gnomic central character, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho).
The first half-hour is a masterclass in economy, and could even pass muster as a short: Hirayama rises from his bachelor futon, goes to work, cleans the city’s conveniences with a dignified gusto, then relaxes in his spare time with a visit to the baths or a beer in his favorite bar.
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