2/8/24 - Perfect Days (2023) - 7/10
An elemental and spartan story of how an older man spends his days, both on his bathroom cleaning job and off. Sweet and pleasant though threadbare story wise, but it exhales richness in its mundane beauty.
The film is a love letter jittering on the charged power line separating pensive meditation and a meaningful exuberance for the joys of life and the world. Recognizing the innate beauty while that sadness dwells at the edge, like the eyeliner against a tearful welling eye. We can feel this interplay at the film/characters roots, especially in the black and white impressionistic dream mirages that weave through the narrative.
Allegory for the film is the sublime simplicity of his tape cassettes - long forgotten and unused but delivers ecstatic wonders to the listener of marvelous songs from decades ago. Hirayama (played serenely by Koji Yakusho) is our protagonist - quiet and unassuming but containing multitudes for he is a man ostensibly out of time and his class and spirit are charming, like his antique technologies & his classic books.
Wenders makes great movies but rarely do I yearn to see them, as I damn him with faint praise. But I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that I was thoughtfully uplifted when I gave him another chance.
P.S. Best soundtrack of the year probably.
