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Perfect Days
Dec. 8th, 2025 03:03 pm Splendid public toilets they have in Tokyo!
And reading up about the movie afterwards I find that the Nippon Foundation- which commissioned the toilets from a bunch of top architects- originally brought Wenders in to make what they thought would be a short documentary about them. However the project developed....
....And turned into a minimalist story film about a guy who cleans the toilets. While I watched it I was thinking "Ozu!" and it seems the makers were thinking "Ozu!" too. Lead actor Koji Yakusho is wonderful in what is almost a silent performance. His character Hirayama has a backstory that is hinted at but never disclosed. And why should we care about it anyway? Once he was something else. Now he's a saint.
"Is it a little sentimental?" I found myself wondering.
But that's my 20th century conditioning showing through.
And reading up about the movie afterwards I find that the Nippon Foundation- which commissioned the toilets from a bunch of top architects- originally brought Wenders in to make what they thought would be a short documentary about them. However the project developed....
....And turned into a minimalist story film about a guy who cleans the toilets. While I watched it I was thinking "Ozu!" and it seems the makers were thinking "Ozu!" too. Lead actor Koji Yakusho is wonderful in what is almost a silent performance. His character Hirayama has a backstory that is hinted at but never disclosed. And why should we care about it anyway? Once he was something else. Now he's a saint.
"Is it a little sentimental?" I found myself wondering.
But that's my 20th century conditioning showing through.
