Movie: Perfect days (2023)
Director: Wim Wenders
Language: Japanese (Originally)
Perfect Days (2023), directed by Wim Wenders, is an aesthetic movie through the character of Hirayama. Koji Yakusho delivers a meaningful performance as Hirayama in a quiet depth. A character called Hirayama is such a masterful soul, which made me feel an enormous sympathy about all life we are admiring to take as a level of symbolizing to this society. He makes me feel like a miserable part of life that we are living can be beautiful too.
Hirayama’s daily life revolves around his work as a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. His routine is deeply intertwined with his love for nature, reading classic literature, listening to old rock music, and capturing the movement of nature through his beautiful camera. He finds joy in the simplicity of life and reshapes his existence with a profound sense of sympathy. Through gestures and expressions, he conveys his emotions on an incredibly deep level. His ability to connect with others allows silence to take center stage, using minimal dialogue and subtle expressions to engage the observer. He portrays a man living in solitude, seemingly isolated yet content, embracing the quiet beauty of a solitary existence.
The cinematography shows the relation between the city and the spontaneous beauty of life. It captures poetry in everyday moments or in every daily repetitive silence. There seems to be a higher level of patience within the main character, Hirayama, but there is also no degradation of the living standard of human life as he acts in a very peaceful way. The beauty of the moments that he is capturing every day as a passion seems to show that there is no lack of any essence that other people are living besides him or wherever we are. With its stunning visuals of art, masterful characters with performances, and deeply human themes, it provides a beautiful connection for everyone who has ever found solace in the simple things.
