How does one live a happy life? What's the key to living a happy life? Is it success, money, love, family, or pleasure?
Perfect Days, a reflective slice-of-life arthouse drama from Paris, Texas, and Wings of Desire director Wim Wenders, explores this philosophical question through the life of Hirayama, a soft-spoken toilet cleaner living a quiet life in Tokyo with a simple routine.
Every morning Hirayama wakes up, buys a coffee from a vending machine, and drives his truck to clean two public toilets, which he takes great pride in. For the rest of the day, he rides his bike, indulging in photography, looking at nature, and listening to his cassette collection. At night, Hirayama reads a book before he sleeps.
Perfect Days is a poetic meditative experience. Slow-paced with little plot beats, writer-director Wim Wenders thrusts the audience into Hirayama's life quietly, observing the minute details of how he lives his life, and eventually holding up a mirror to how you are living yours.
Lead actor Koji Yakusho's performance is seamless and natural, immersed into his character in every frame and physically shows Hirayama's whimsical private thoughts with no deliberate scenery chewing or saving it for the close-up.
On paper, Hirayama's life looks awesome. He works approximately 5 hours per day, does what he loves for the rest of it, and keeps to simple inexpensive pleasures. Happiness is simple in concept, but perhaps not easily achieved.
Upon reflection, it does come at a cost. This monk-like simplicity takes tremendous mental fortitude to withstand loneliness. Hirayama lives in solitude with no companion or friends or any attachments that may require a higher income or responsibility.
The story lightly refers to what may have happened in Hirayama's past, but screenwriters Wim Wenders and Takuma Takasaki prefer to leave it open. Or perhaps this is the filmmakers' statement on life itself! Perhaps there is no such thing as 100% happiness; there's always some dissatisfaction... and we must accept it.
At times, all this empty space reduces Hirayama into just being an idea instead of a developed character. The lack of a plot does take something away at the very end. The final shot, a long take of Koji Yakusho smiling, felt like a director's closing statement to wrap everything up. It's an unearned character moment that plays vaguely and left me desiring more of an emotional punch.
Jim Jarmusch's Patterson, a similar film in story and tone, struck a better landing by comparison.
All that said, Perfect Days is a rewarding watch. The visuals, jukebox soundtrack, and quiet intimacy rubbed off on me and I enjoyed reflecting on the film's themes afterward.
Having a deep interest in stoicism, it was doubly cool to see a fully realized example of a stoic living in modern society. The film reignited a forgotten awareness within me to just let go, take life as it is, and just enjoy it all.