Most of the time in movies, filmmakers like to celebrate big events, like weddings, graduations, and important life milestones. Movies can also celebrate big moments in life, like first dates and first kisses. However, not many films can celebrate everyday life and mundane things. In Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, we can appreciate the joys of life through a man cleaning toilets and listening to Patti Smith and Lou Reed’s music. The Criterion Collection released a fantastic 4K Ultra HD edition that makes you really appreciate the small things in life.
Written by Wim Wenders and Takuma Takasaki, and directed by Wenders, Perfect Days follows Hirayama, played wonderfully by Koji Yakusho (Tampopo, Shall We Dance?), a sanitation worker who spends his working days cleaning public restrooms and toilets in Tokyo, Japan. And that’s pretty much it.
The film follows Hirayama days from waking up in the morning, shaving, appreciating a brand new day, buying coffee, driving to work, listening to music from the ‘70s, cleaning restrooms, going to a bathhouse to clean up himself, going to a ramen shop after work, going home, reading a book, and then going to sleep and dreaming of the day’s events — only to repeat the same routine the next day.
Hirayama lives a very simple and minimalistic life, enjoying the small pleasures. He also has an artistic eye, as he takes photos of the sunlight cascading through trees with an old point-and-shoot film camera. Throughout the film, Hirayama comes across a number of acquaintances, like lazy co-workers, bar mates, shop owners, and even his niece and estranged sister.
Every interaction, we find out more and more about Hirayama, but a lot of his past and circumstances remain a mystery. It doesn’t seem that important to his everyday life. It seems happy and content with a simple life and simple pleasures, like listening to music and reading books.
As for the release itself, Perfect Days is presented in a two-disc set: Disc one is a 4K Ultra HD master in HDR (High Dynamic Range) with 5.1 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack, while disc two has the film in Full HD on Blu-ray with bonus features — including a new interview with Wim Wenders (who talks about Yasujirō Ozu as his inspiration for making Perfect Days), an interview with Yakusho, an interview with producer Koji Yanai (the founder of the Tokyo Toilet Project), and an essay from film critic Bilge Ebiri (Vulture, New York Magazine). It also has a short film starring Min Tanaka, who played the homeless man.
Perfect Days was one of the best films of 2023 and it’s really easy to see why. The film feels very personal, while also having broad appeal and something relatable — especially if you work day in and day out. And although the scope of the film is very small and simple, it feels like the entire weight of the world is compressed into its 124-minute running — which moves with a sense of urgency. It feels active, so the audience comes along, as if Wenders is leading them through parks, alleyways, and public toilets in Tokyo.
