Perfect Days review: Finding warmth in a cold world

Perfect Days, Japan’s entry for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Oscars, follows Hirayama, a middle-aged toilet cleaner in Tokyo, taking you through his daily routines. I will admit that although I am not too familiar with Wenders’ films, I had seen his two most popular films before this (according to Letterboxd): Paris, Texas and The Wings of Desire. Both left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed given their reputations, but Perfect Days certainly did not disappoint.

From the beginning you are thrust straight into Tokyo, first seeing a shot of the city and hearing the noise of hundreds of cars. Then, you are put inside the head of Hirayama, seeing the street sweeper who wakes him up every morning, delving into his morning routine before he leaves for work. He wakes up, folds up his bed, waters his plants, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, leaves the house, buys a coffee from a vending machine, then gets in his car and drives to work. 

The thing that stood out to me during this introductory sequence, and the film as a whole, was the use of colour. There was a significant presence of blue in Hirayama’s work uniform, the van he drives, and the bodies of water in the city, grey in the roads, or white in the domineering Tokyo architecture. These are three cold colours; as if to tell you that modern Tokyo is an impersonal place, or perhaps making a more sweeping statement on modern society and the alienation caused by Capitalism.

Wenders’ apparent acknowledgement of the coldness of the world strikes an incredibly meaningful balance with Hirayama as a character. Hirayama is a quiet man. Even when faced with something he should be speaking up against, he seems laser-focused on living in the moment and appreciating what beauty he can find around him. He loves to read, take pictures of trees, and listen to cassette tapes in his van (featuring ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ by The Velvet Underground, ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding and of course ‘Perfect Day’ by Lou Reed – impeccable taste). 

Seeing life through Hirayama’s eyes you are reminded of how important it is to look around you and see the beauty in the everyday, as opposed to stressing yourself out over things that have happened in the past or might happen in the future that you have no control over at this moment.

Koji Yakusho was awarded Best Actor at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for his performance as Hirayama, and I can’t complain about that choice at all. Yakusho manages to perfectly convey Hirayama’s enchantment with his life, while hitting some emotional beats towards the end of the film that really caught me off guard.

I cannot flaw Perfect Days; it is a slow burn and that might put some people off, but I’ve got really into slow cinema over the last couple of years, and the time investment here is well worth it for the emotional moments at the end. They would not hit the same without everything that came before. Perfect Days looks and sounds beautiful. 

The lead performance will likely go down as one of the best of the year, and the central message is a crucial reminder that even in this post-pandemic world where we are all trying to make up for lost time, you will feel a lot better if you live life in the moment.

5/5

Perfect Days is out now in cinemas.