Perfect Days

Wim Wenders' Oscar-nominated film takes us to a unique and rarely seen part of Tokyo.

Yakusho’s astonishing performance in that one scene alone is all you need to see to understand...

It's almost like mindfulness, as a movie.

Wenders’ obvious affection for Tokyo itself, his keen feel for texture and neat avoidance of cliché all suggest Perfect Days is likely to age well as a portrait of a great city’s everyday side.

Perhaps, in its polite and unassuming way, the film advocates not just a new way of looking, but also a new way of living.

Zen and the art of toilet cleaning? You'd better believe it. This is as gentle as it gets — a humble little film, maybe, but an enriching one. It's a soul-cleanse.

There’s a suggestion here that this simple life is not the result of some enlightened pursuit of modest happiness but rather that this man may be running away from something, closing himself off to large parts of the world.

Beautifully shot and undoubtedly character-driven, Perfect Days proves that ordinary life can be just as interesting and heart-warming as – if not more than – any other film with an overly complex storyline.

The richness of Días Perfectos consists of its traditional portrait where the protagonist sees each day with the enthusiasm of a new day. He lives each day in his uniqueness, aware that each one of them is unrepeatable...

Perfect Days is one of those...almost plotless films that tries to make a point and showcase a way of life, rather than tell a story. Hirayama and Tokyo are two memorable characters in this “good vibes” film that is also just a tad...self-indulgent.