Have You Seen It?

Countries of origin: Japan and Germany. A MasterMind Production in collaboration with Spoon. and Wenders Images. Starring Koji Yakusho (Hirayama), Tokio Emoto (Takashi), Arisa Nakano (Niko), and Aoi Yamada (Aya). Produced by Koji Yanai, Wim Wenders, and Takuma Takasaki. Written by Wim Wenders and Takuma Takasaki. Directed by Wim Wenders.

Wim Wenders’s film Perfect Days is a beautiful whisper. The central character is Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), a reserved man who cleans public restrooms for a living. In the morning, he wakes up to the sound of a neighbor sweeping with her broom. He folds up his bed, trims his moustache, shaves, gets dressed for the day, and when he leaves his modest residence, he looks up at the sky and quietly and contentedly smiles. Another day has begun. So begins a subtle but meaningful journey for Hirayama.

There is relatively little dialogue in this movie. This quality gently encourages the viewer to actively observe as Hirayama observes his world. As he meticulously cleans the public restrooms, sits in the park at lunchtime, watches the passersby and the shimmer of light in the trees, Hirayama observes and responds to what he observes.

Wim Wenders’s intent on telling his story visually is one of the film’s beauties. Telling stories visually is one of the first lessons learned in film school and one of the first to be forgotten since most films rely instead on dialogue. As Wenders tells this tale, there are routine elements in Hirayama’s life (as there are in everyone’s life) but what is amazing is that it never sinks into the kind of repetition that breeds impatience. Wenders sometimes films those routine elements from different angles than he did before, focuses on a different aspect of Hirayama’s work, or edits out parts of Hirayama’s morning routine that after a point we assume he does everyday. We also get to experience his dreams, the nocturnal interpretation of the day’s events.

The sway of the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu on Wim Wenders is admirably apparent. Although the influence of Ozu’s simplicity and elegance are evident, this film does not center on the family as Ozu did. In Wim Wenders’s hands, these qualities help tell the story of a solitary man.

Hirayama is a man who finds value in the simplest things: being in the presence of trees, reading, planting, carefully cleaning the public restrooms. In treasuring the simplest things, his life develops a remarkable value.

In spite of Hirayama’s solitary existence, he is not disconnected from the world. He is a regular at an eating establishment, a bar, a public bath, a laundromat, a bookstore, a photo shop, and the park. He is leading a life uncluttered by an attachment to social media and manufactured drama of his own creation. He is a man contentedly living his life.

Hirayama is also a man of deeds before words. In one scene, his young co-worker Takashi (Tokio Emoto) realizes the monetary value of Hirayama’s beloved audiocassette tapes. When they are both at a music retailer, Takashi begs Hirayama to sell some of them so he can have the money to take out a young woman he likes. Hirayama holds out his hand to receive the tapes from Takashi but Takashi continues to plead with him. Hirayama keeps his open hand extended until Takashi relents, hands the tapes over, and then Hirayama gives him all the money from his own wallet, without speaking a word. There are many other scenes when Hirayama chooses to communicate through deeds instead of words.

If Wim Wenders’s visual storytelling is the driving force behind the film, Koji Yakusho’s expressive performance as Hirayama is the focal point. A movie that chooses images over words requires an actor capable of visually expressing a wide and interesting variety of thoughts and emotions. What changes in Hirayama over the course of the film is evident in his performance and not in what is spoken.

At one point while watching Perfect Days, I quietly began to hold my breath in suspense: was it going to remain true to the artistry it expressed from the film’s beginning? To my deep satisfaction and relief, it does. Because of the contributions of all involved but especially Wim Wenders’s meaningful, image-centered storytelling and Koji Yakusho’s expressive performance, Perfect Days is something special in film: it is a whisper, a shimmering light, a spiritual benefaction.

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