The dawn sun is still basking in its bed and in no hurry to start Tokyo's bustling life, but the sad shuffling of a broom outside the window is already waking up the elderly man. A book left by the bed in the evening finds space on the shelf, and a neatly folded mattress goes to the corner of the room. The lonely owner picks up a strictly arranged wallet, keys, a smile, a camera and small items for the coffee vending machine and goes out onto a dark street in the capital.
To the rhythms of The Animals streaming from the minivan's cassette player, Hirayama meets the late dawn halfway to Shibuya. After picking up carefully packed tools from the trunk, he takes care of cleaning public toilets. Ascetic, wood-style or high-tech, you have to avoid a dozen latrines before the end of your shift, each with the unpleasant signs of a stormy night.
Unlike a negligent colleague who works too hard, Hirayama treats work with due nobility. He monotonously cleans every nook and cranny and is well aware of all the “pitfalls” of the profession. And even when a sleepy drunkard falls in the middle of cleaning, he proudly waits outside the door so that he can soon start cleaning up again.
Although the residents of Shibuya avoid Hirayama, he enjoys spending his time doing dull work, which is socially reprehensible, but still necessary. Without further ado, without going into conversations with a colleague or arguing with squeamish visitors, the man lives through his working days to drink iced lemonade in the evening at a snack bar near the house and habitually fall asleep with a book in his hand.
Wim Wenders shows the uncomplicated life of the main character “Perfect Days” with the same meticulousness with which Hirayama approaches her work. Day after day, the camera follows the silent gentleman, spying on his monotonous days. The whole life seems to be arranged according to schedule, and the patient director does not break it with unnecessary movements, giving space to the established order.
Like a monk who took a vow of silence, Hirayama acts as an outside observer who arrives in the shadows of a noisy world. But if the angels fluttering in “Wings of Desire” are on a silent search for truth and meaning, the main character of “Perfect Days” has already found it. A poor and lonely old man, cursed at Sisyphean work, smiles at the rising Monday sun, as if its light was all a person needed to be happy.
Inspired by the poetic realism of the 1940s and Japanese film classics Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, Wim Wenders brings Hirayama to the very bottom of society. After all, the beauty of the world contrasts most strongly with “lowly” life. In addition, it's much easier to enjoy the sun when you have a minute to sit in the silence of the park, rather than chasing running time through the streets of a metropolis.
In the second half of the film, Hirayama is faced with a heap of unexpected events and acquaintances that threaten to disrupt the orderly order in thoughts and deeds. But Wim Wenders is in no hurry to add more drama, and at first, anxiety only amuses a man accustomed to stability. However, when individual events invade its past, present and future at once, ideal days crack.
The minimalism of the picture, which denies the hustle and bustle of one of the most bustling cities on the planet, suddenly takes on new colors. Every word of the hitherto silent protagonist is filled with weight and value. But instead of drastically changing its climax, “Perfect Days” returns to its original formula, this time vividly emphasized by the changes that have taken place.
Wim Wenders's works often deny the usual narrative, allowing characters to live in a world without a clear past and a leitmotif. Hirayama isn't hiding from his life, but the movie doesn't allow you to look into it and get to know better. Even the rare details and speculations brought by the wind of change hardly lift the veil of secrecy.
The director denies the need for development and the importance of the starting point, instead focusing on the monotony of the present moment. In the most mundane rituals and boring everyday life, he finds the beauty of simplicity. Wim Wenders's humanism is reflected in the fact that he allows his main character to be happy in the lifeless wasteland of loneliness.
The processes of reflection and search seem to take Hirayama away from peace, while simple routine fuels his inner harmony. At the end of his eighties, Wim Wenders answers all his characters on their challenging journey. Perhaps happiness, which always eludes a person, simply awaits him in the park in the sunlight that barely makes its way through the branches of trees.
