Widely acclaimed as Wim Wenders’ best (fiction) film since his glory days in the 1980s, Perfect Days is a humanist character study steeped in the director’s admiration for the cinema of Yasujiro Ozu and, as British critic Mark Kermode suggested, an exercise in mindful moviemaking. The great Japanese actor Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance; Cure; Tokyo Sonata) stars as Hirayama, whose menial work cleaning public toilets is off-set by his rich interior life; his appreciation for music (Lou Reed; The Kinks; Van Morrison), literature (Patricia Highsmith; Faulkner) and nature.
Mindfulness, as a movie.
Mark Kermode
In its polite and unassuming way, the film advocates not just a new way of looking, but also a new way of living.
Wendy Ide, The Observer
The director has crafted a film of deceptive simplicity, observing the tiny details of a routine existence with such clarity, soulfulness and empathy that they build a cumulative emotional power almost without you noticing.
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
Wim Wenders
Koji Yakusho, Yumi Asô, Tokio Emoto, Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura, Min Tanaka
Japan/Germany
2023
In Japanese with English subtitles
Best Actor, Cannes, Japan Academy Film Prize; Best Director, Japan Academy
Nominee: Best International Film, Academy Awards
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Credits
Screenwriter
Wim Wenders, Takuma Takasaki
Cinematography
Franz Lustig
Editor
Toni Froschhammer
Production Design
Towako Kuwajima
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