Win Wenders’ love letter to the wise, old, cassette loving janitor.
The life of a janitor in Tokyo is simple. He gets up, freshens up, sprays his plants, puts his “Tokyo Toilet” uniform on, gets in his car, and listens to his cassette player to classic rock music, and begins cleaning public toilets. Hirayama (Koji Yakusho, who won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival) is very good at his job, even when his talkative and young co-worker Takashi (Tokio Emoto) thinks he’s too committed. Does the old man care? No, he doesn’t. In fact, I think he’s the kind of person who should be dating Daisy Ridley’s office character in “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
“Perfect Days,” the Hirayama movie, is German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ Japanese entry, which presents that character and his daily routine. It reminded me of movies like “Clerks” or “Patterson,” both of which have the different perspectives on their characters, their personalities, and their occupations. In Hirayama’s case, he’s not much of a talker, but there are moments when he speaks and moments when he smiles, proving to us he isn’t a bleak old man.
We also acknowledge his good taste in music. The tracks in the film includes The Animals, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, and Nina Simone. And not one young person is disrespectful to the classics. One of them has to ask if a certain song is on Spotify, and that means she wants to keep hearing it on her iPhone.
The character I’m describing right now is his niece Niko (Arisa Nakano), whom he reunites with for the first time in years. She acknowledges that he and her mother (Yumi Asō) have an estranged relationship, because whenever Niko mentions him, her old lady changes the subject. This would mark the first time she runs away from home, and yet, I didn’t get a headache from it, because the movie chooses to leave out the most aggravating parts. It’s actually considerate when she and her uncle spend time together in this subplot, and when she becomes fascinated in his taste in music, books, and leisure.
“Perfect Days” knows how to use its words, and there’s a pure sense of authenticity and meaning when it comes to a certain conversation. For instance, when Niko wants to visit the ocean with Hirayama, he says “Next time.” And when she says asks “When is next time,” he says “Next time is next time; now is now.” And they repeat that for the rest of their bike ride.
The weakest element of the film is Takashi, who is unlikable and annoying from beginning to end. At least, that’s how I see him. There is no truth or open-minded qualities in him, he has to unexpectedly quit his job without one word of explanation, and I’m glad he has very little to do in the film.
Aside from him, the overall movie is another worthy entry in Wenders’ filmography, mostly because of how he presents the main character and his life, and how Yakusho is extraordinary as Hirayama. It’s a somber and quiet film that choices to make certain issues less irritable than they probably would have been if “Perfect Days” was an American film. It’s a Japanese film made by a German filmmaker, who chooses not to let anyone succumb to formulas, and co-written by him and Takuma Takasaki, it’s the kind of movie whose leading character you want to examine. He’s a character who loves his plants, his music, and his literature, and he is a man who is good at his job. Janitors are people, too, and we should appreciate them. Well, at least some bathrooms need Hirayama’s assistance. Set up the Wet Floor signs.
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