Wenders manages to transform the life of an apparently simple and banal character into a story that we end up watching with bated breath, fascinated by the unpretentious way in which he lives his small joys.
Watching the screen, we might think that some people don't need much to be happy and content. The idea from which director Wim Wenders starts is precisely that each day of our lives can be perfect if we see the small joys that surround us. Why do I say this? Because the protagonist of the story could be seen as just a simple public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. I used "simple" in an ironically suggestive-evocative way to emphasize that we are often tempted to quickly label the people around us without giving them time and understanding them better. Because, in fact, "simple" is not at all the term that defines the main character, Hirayama – for his role, actor Kōji Yakusho was awarded the Best Actor prize at Cannes 2023.
He is passionate about music and literature, and Perfect Days constructs a character study as Wenders has done many times before. Lisbon Story comes to mind, in the sense that there, too, we could actually see the life and specifics of a city through the eyes and actions of a character. What seems extraordinary to me about the German director is the way he always manages to empathically view his characters. And how he lets us imagine who they are, what they think, as he gradually offers us more information about them: without haste and with much love for humanity.
Text by Ion Indolean