PERFECT DAYS

Repetitive Movements, Unforgettable Moments

Venue: Toho Cinemas Hibiya (Chante)
Dec. 29 (Fri), 2023 —
Official website: www.perfectdays-movie.jp/
Theater website: hlo.tohotheater.jp/net/schedule/081/TNPI2000J01.do
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTgWYojq-z8&ab_channel=TheMatchFactory
Tariff:  Please check on the theater site.
Advance tickets: Please check on the theater site.
Talk event: Please check on the theater site.
Director: Wim Wenders (ビム・ベンダース)
Duration: 124 min

Santa has finally arrived in Tokyo, and he brought just what we’d been hoping for: English-subtitled screenings of Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, running from December 29 – January 4. So rouse yourselves early and get to Hibiya Chanter! Extra demand may translate into extended/additional screenings, and you do not want to miss this beautiful ode to life’s many simple pleasures.

As you’ve surely heard, the film by legendary German auteur Wenders (Wings of Desire, Tokyo-Ga) won the Cannes Best Actor Award for Koji Yakusho’s sublime performance this past May, and became Japan’s submission for the Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category — the first time the nation had submitted a work by a non-Japanese director. It has since been short-listed for the Oscar and, because the rights sold out internationally (and at unprecedented speed), will be getting extensive global play.

Showcasing both toilets — and filmmaking — that are works of art, Perfect Days focuses on Hirayama (Yakusho), a cleaner of the starchitect-designed public conveniences scattered around Shibuya. (If you haven’t taken a tour of these “symbols of Japan's world-renowned hospitality culture,” plan one here: https://tokyotoilet.jp/en/ )

We know almost nothing of Hirayama except that he seems perfectly content with his rigidly structured daily routine, which includes the repetition of janitorial movements, the photographing of light filtering through trees, the reading of literary classics, and the enjoyment of cassette tapes with indelible tunes from the 80s (including the beloved title track, by Lou Reed). In the second half of the film, Hirayama’s placid surface is ruffled by a series of unexpected encounters, which gradually reveal more of his past.

Perfect Days was the Opening Film at the Tokyo International Film Festival in fall, and as the cast gathered onstage, Wenders recalled the project’s genesis: “A while ago, I had a dream. I was dreaming of making a film in Japan. I was dreaming I would make it with Koji Yakusho in the main role. I was dreaming it would also have Min Tanaka. I was dreaming that it would be produced by Koji Yanai. I was dreaming that I would take it to the Cannes Film Festival and it would win the Best Actor Award. I didn’t dare dream that it would be the Japanese submission to the Oscars. But I did dream that it would be the Opening Film of the Tokyo International Film Festival. And then, I woke up. And here you are!”

He didn’t mention that the film was actually the brainchild of the backers of the Tokyo Toilet project, Fast Retailing (owners of the Uniqlo clothing chain) and The Nippon Foundation, which carries out humanitarian projects with revenues from boat racing. It was produced by Uniqlo scion Koji Yanai, and cowritten/produced by Dentsu executive Takuma Takasaki. They have certainly proved to be a dream team.

Toho Cinemas Hibiya (Chante)