PERFECT DAYS

Name: PERFECT DAYS
Item: PERFECT DAYS
Author: Review

"Joy in the Mundane"

Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

PERFECT DAYS is a drama in Japanese, directed by acclaimed German director Wim Wenders. The movie is about a middle-aged man named Hirayama and his steady, mundane life. It follows him through the same schedule every day. For example, he listens to his cassette tapes while driving to work, cleans public toilets, takes pictures of trees, washes up, goes out for dinner, and then reads his book. Sometimes things happen. For example, a young co-worker steals one of his tapes, his niece runs away from home, or his dear friend hugs her ex-husband. He always shows respect, however.

PERFECT DAYS is beautifully crafted. It has wonderful visuals paired with a good soundtrack. There are many positive moral values promoting family, humility, generosity, and compassion. However, the main character, Hirayama, visits a Buddhist or Shinto temple. Also, with all the reading he does, the movie can be seen as Hirayama trying to reach Eastern Religious enlightenment. PERFECT DAYS also has brief foul language and natural nudity. However, Hirayama is seen living the humble life Jesus describes, giving up his possessions and living a poor life.

Content:

(BB, C, FRFR, L, V, N, A, D, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Many moral elements promoting family, humility, compassion, generosity, plus the main character often lives out some teachings of Jesus, such as donating all he has (there is one instance in the movie where his younger co-worker begs for money, and Hirayama gives him all the money he has, leaving him with no money for gas in his car), but there are Eastern Religious elements displayed when the main character goes to a shrine/temple surrounded by little Buddhist or Shinto statues, and the movie could be seen as trying to reach enlightenment via some form of Eastern Religion;

Foul Language:

Two profanities (including one “God” and one GD), and three obscenities (including one “h” word and two “s” words);

Violence:

When a sumo wrestling match is on television, one sumo wrestler throws the other;

Sex:

No sex (one instance of a girl kissing a guy on the cheek (both of them are unmarried and not dating, one instance of a divorced couple hugging, one instance of a male friend holding onto another one’s ears, and an instance of a sibling hug);

Nudity:

Man goes to the bathhouse three times, two of which you can see him and other males are naked, but you can only see bare rear ends and there’s an instance of upper male nudity when there a sumo wrestling match plays on television;

Alcohol Use:

At the end of the movie, man buys three alcoholic beverages, and he and another man drink the drinks;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Man buys cigarettes toward end of movie, and he another man both smoke; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Young man is late for work, children scare man when he opens up a restroom to clean it, young man and his girlfriend steal a cassette tape from older man, man’s niece runs away from home, man has to cover for younger co-worker after he quits on the spot and ends up parking illegally because of it.

More Detail:

PERFECT DAYS, a drama in Japanese by German director Wim Wenders, follows Hirayama and his mundane life as a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. It’s a beautifully presented movie, with great visuals and a nice soundtrack too. This movie seemingly lacks plot and focuses on the realism of everyday life. There are many positive moral values in PERFECT DAYS, but there are some Buddhist elements also. Therefore, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for teenagers and adults.

The movie starts with Hirayama waking up and going through his morning routine before going to work. He works as a janitor, cleaning public bathrooms dotted throughout Tokyo. While cleaning the bathrooms he encounters multiple people throughout Tokyo, such as helping a child who was separated from his mother. His coworker, Takashi shows up late for work, but together they finish cleaning. Then, Hirayama takes a break to eat lunch in a park. After he is done, he takes a picture of the trees.

After he gets off work, he goes to the bathhouse and washes up. Once he is freshly cleaned, he bikes to a restaurant and gets a meal. Then, he goes home and reads his book until he goes to sleep. This is his daily routine that is repeated multiple times throughout the movie.

The next day at work, Hirayama and Takashi are visited by Aya, Takashi’s girlfriend. They want to go on a date, but his motorbike won’t work, so Hirayama lets them drive his car and listen to his cassettes. After the drive, Takashi steals one of the cassettes and gives it to Aya, then tries to convince Hirayama to sell his cassette tapes because Takashi is out of money and needs money to date Aya. Hirayama decides to give Takashi all of his money. One Hirayama’s drive home, he runs out of gas and has to sell his rare cassette tape for gas money.

The next day, Hirayama finds a tic tac toe game left in one of the bathrooms. He comes back and plays it every day. After getting off of work, Aya stops by and gives the cassette tape back. She asks to listen to it one last time, then kisses Hirayama on the cheek after they listen to it. Another day goes by, Hirayama has off work and stops by a temple, then heads to a bar for a meal. After listening to Mama, the bar owner, sing, he heads home and finds his niece Niko.

Niko joins Hirayama at work, then she stays at his place that night. Hirayama and Niko talk about their relationship with Niko’s mother, Hirayama’s sister. Niko tells Hirayama that she ran away. The two then spend some quality time together before getting back home and finding Niko’s mom there to pick up Niko. Niko doesn’t want to go, but Hirayama encourages her and lets her take his book.

Hirayama then gets back to his schedule of working all day. He then finds Mama hugging Tomoyama and decides to buy some drinks and smokes. Tomoyama finds Hirayama and they talk about how Tomoyama is Mama’s ex-husband and has cancer. He visited to thank her and then Hirayama and Tomoyama played shadow tag.

PERFECT DAYS is expertly crafted. The visuals are outstanding and display to beauty in everyday life. The soundtrack is also wonderful, filled with some great songs. The acting is something to mention too. It is wonderful. Everything about this movie is well done. It even took home the most prized reward in the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d’Or.

The worldview shows many moral values and biblical allusions. In Matthew 19:21-24, Jesus tells the young man to give up all his possessions. PERFECT DAYS shows Hirayama do this multiple times throughout the movie such as giving Takashi all his money and giving Niko his book. Hirayama lives a poor life and finds joy in it. He is always generous and gives, no matter who it is. He gives to family, and even to a man who stole from him. As far as the Buddhist elements, Hirayama is seen going to a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine. Also, with all the constant reading and trying to obtain knowledge he does, PERFECT DAYS could be seen as Hirayama trying to reach enlightenment.

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Quality:

- Content: +3

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