Wim Wenders' Oscar-nominated film takes us to a unique and rarely seen part of Tokyo
Kôji Yakusho, left, who plays Hirayama, and Arisa Nakano, who plays his estranged niece Niko, in a scene from ‘Perfect Days’ has always been fascinated by landscapes, drawing us into the architectural and emotional surroundings of his characters, whether that be the desert vistas in his iconoclastic.
Played with a kind of charming, quiet nobility by Kôji Yakusho, Hirayama goes about his work with humour and dignity. His assistant, played by Tokio Emoto, is less serious about his mission – the toilets will only get dirty again, after all. But Hirayama takes pride in it, and enjoys a quiet life at home. He loves reading, and music, and doing a bit of gardening. He has no cynicism or hard-bitten ambition to speak of, which is something Wenders relishes.
A series of chance encounters slowly reveal more of Hirayama’s complicated family past and previous loves, and when his estranged niece Niko arrives in his life we learn why he so cherishes his solitude: his family are baffled by his choices, and judge him harshly. Soon, though, an understanding crops up between Niko and her uncle while she stays with him, and in some of the film’s most moving scenes, the pair listen to 60s rock classics together.
The film has a pseudo-documentary quality in its lack of clear narrative and dialogue, to begin with; but as it unfurls, a realist drama is here, too. Wenders is influenced by the slow and graceful look of other Japanese film-makers, and borrows from their legacy to create a Zen-like, nature-loving atmosphere, with the emotional tumult left for the viewer to piece together.
Hirayama resists the urging of his family to change his circumstances or to “improve” his life: his goal is not to obtain material wealth but to live happily. In a world where we are increasingly desperate, and so much is dictated by capitalist metrics of “success”, that’s a beautiful thing.
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