"Perfect Days" a film by Wim Wenders
A recommendation & my notes
This post is a quick one to encourage you to watch “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders. My mother recommended it to me initially and I can’t say enough good things.
The quick story line is that this film follows the life of a man whose job it is to clean public toilets in Japan. It’s a story about being present, happiness, the human condition and finding equanimity in daily life. Since you subscribed to this newsletter, there are pretty good odds you would enjoy this film :)
You can rent on YouTube for $6 here. Be sure to watch until the end!
Once you watch it, below the fold are my notes on the film for various pieces that stood out to me. Consider them more vignettes that only make sense if you’ve seen the movie. Until then they won’t really make any sense.
If you watch it, I hope you enjoy it!
Notes from “Perfect Days”
Movie origin story: Wenders was invited to make a documentary about 15 public toilets in Tokyo that were made by famous architects. When Wenders arrives in 2022 he is amazed at how clean everything is in the middle of pandemic lockdown and decides to instead write a story centered on the toilets but focused on the people making it possible. Wenders then partners with the man that invited him initially to Japan. As protagonist, Wenders decides on Kōji Yakusho since he loved him in the 1996 film, “Shall We Dance.”
The Tokyo Toilet Project: What incredible public toilets; you can see them all on this site.
Maintenance & equanimity: One of the main threads of the film - you see this at the beginning: caring for the plants, putting away his futon, shaving and having his morning routine, his coffee from the vending machine, caring for the toilets, his lunch, the picture of the tree, then his o-furo (the bath), his dinner at the noodle spot with beer; his book and sleep. On his day off, there is the second routine of the bar, the singer, the books, cleaning clothes, getting his film developed, sorting through the photos, cleaning his tatami… He only wears his watch on his day off. This cycle brings him peace and happiness while those around “with more” are lost in their own spiraling dramas (e.g., the contrast with his initial partner is fantastic!).
A man of few words: For the first 30” of the movie I don’t think he speaks at all; it’s not until the end that he says more than a few words. And yet, he’s so present and there is so much emotion in this movie…
All the incredible little details: the tic-tac-toe folded paper; the conversations with the book lady when he gets a new book; playing shadow tag with the man - all amazing little details! The boy who grabs the ears of the other colleague and then misses him - I get sad just thinking about that scene… The cassette-sharing scene with the almost-girlfriend… Blowing the fan towards the older man napping while cooling off from the bath... Taking care of the little trees and helping them grow every morning… The initial scene with him bowing to the monk and taking care of the sapling… so beautiful!
How he deals with change: He gets thrown off his routine by the niece and the longer work day - his response: two coffees. The bar throws him off further (there’s the beer and the cigarettes) and while you see him light the cigarette, we also see him recenter with compassion for the man with cancer and then shadow tag...
Contrasting solitary characters: The man that is a bit crazy with the branches on his back, hugs trees and wanders into the street, as well as the silent woman that eats her sandwich next to him, I think they are contrasting solitary characters to highlight his level of focus and happiness. When he sees the man with the sticks on the street, I think there is definitely a “there but for the grace of god” moment.
The novel the niece is reading: The novel is “Eleven” by Patricia Highsmith - written in 1970. The “Victor” the daughter mentions is from “The Terrapin” - it seems it’s about a boy that is “very frustrated by the fact that his mother treats him like a small child.”
Shadows: The first dream the protagonist has focuses on a page with the kanji for shadow: 影 (kage) - this motif of shadows is recurring coming up in his photographs of the trees, his game of “shadow tag” and the final conversation near the river. Every night’s dream is also a series of overlapping shadows - some from the past, many from the day before. “Do overlapping shadows look darker?” Or do they just blend into each other?
Komorebi - “shadows dancing through trees”: It seems there is a whole layer to the shadows through trees that isn’t easy to translate into English - from this review:
““Komorebi” is a Japanese word for the dancing shadow patterns created by sunlight shining through the rustling leaves of trees. There’s no equivalent term in English, and it’s tough to imagine any American caring enough to come up with one. But every afternoon on his lunch break, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) takes a picture of the komorebi from his favorite park bench using an old Olympus film camera. Back at his apartment, he’s got boxes and boxes of black-and-white photos of the same spot, every one of them unique. Subtle shifts of the light and swaying branches in the breeze make similar snapshots strikingly different every time. Indeed, the whole concept behind komorebi is that it can exist only in a moment, never to be repeated. “Next time is next time,” Hirayama’s fond of saying, “Now is now.”
“Next time is next time. Now is now.”: The phrases in Japanese are “Kondo wa kondo. Ima wa ima” - 今度は今度。今は今. interestingly the kanji for kondo includes the same kanji as “now” and the two kanji that compose it are “this time” (although it means “next time” in practice).
The Music! The soundtrack is just incredible. The ending with Nina Simone’s “Feeling good”! The bike shots while “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed plays in the background! “House of the rising sun” in Japanese sung in the bar!
Lyrics for Nina Simone’s “Feeling good” (the closing song):
Birds flying high, you know how I feel Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me, yeah It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me, ooh And I'm feeling good Fish in the sea, you know how I feel River running free, you know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me And I'm feeling good Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know? Butterflies all havin' fun, you know what I mean Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what I mean And this old world, is a new world And a bold world for me, yeah-yeah Stars when you shine, you know how I feel Scent of the pine, you know how I feel Oh, freedom is mine And I know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me I'm feeling good
“The world is made up of many worlds. Some are connected and some are not.” - from his conversation with his niece on bridge. An underlying philosophy for how all the characters interact.
In the spirit of disconnected worlds, there is his analogue technology: cassette tapes; his books and photos, his camera from the 1990s. No computer, no TV, no screens in the entire movie. “Analogue tech is so in!” says the almost-girlfriend with dye-blonde hair. When the niece listens to Van Morrison: “Is this on spotify?” “I don’t know that store.”
The main actor’s facial expressions: Kōji Yakusho’s eyes are incredible; the ability to have an entire scene just focused on his eyes blew me away – obviously the end but also the shot in the hot tub where he’s smiling underwater! Wenders mentions in an interview he considers Yakusho’s ability to convey his emotions on his face unlike any other actor…
Lyrics from “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone:
Birds flying high, you know how I feel Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me, yeah It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me, ooh And I'm feeling good Fish in the sea, you know how I feel River running free, you know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me And I'm feeling good Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know? Butterflies all havin' fun, you know what I mean Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what I mean And this old world, is a new world And a bold world for me, yeah-yeah Stars when you shine, you know how I feel Scent of the pine, you know how I feel Oh, freedom is mine And I know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me I'm feeling good
The film was a true delight…
I have seen this movie 3 times and each time I find new meaning in it. Your perspective is right on and so well described. Thank you!
Thanks for this review! I rewatched the movie yesterday and I keep finding small details to focus on. I think what I love about this movie is that there's so much peace, so much calm and happiness in very small moments of Hirayama's life and he cherishes those moments in such a mindful manner. And yet, the movie doesn't hide that there's sorrow and setbacks, too. I feel my own life slowing down a bit watching this gem.