Perfect Days

Yakusho’s astonishing performance in that one scene alone is all you need to see to understand...

It's almost like mindfulness, as a movie.

Wenders’ obvious affection for Tokyo itself, his keen feel for texture and neat avoidance of cliché all suggest Perfect Days is likely to age well as a portrait of a great city’s everyday side.

Perhaps, in its polite and unassuming way, the film advocates not just a new way of looking, but also a new way of living.

Zen and the art of toilet cleaning? You'd better believe it. This is as gentle as it gets — a humble little film, maybe, but an enriching one. It's a soul-cleanse.

Jonathan Livingstone Lavatory Cleaner. Zen and the Art of Lavatory Maintenance. But better than that. Sharper, less sentimental, less aphoristic. A film to live your life by.

It feels active, so the audience comes along, as if Wenders is leading them through parks, alleyways, and public toilets in Tokyo.

Unlike most modern cinema, the theme of Perfect Days isn’t delivered via conflict.

Wenders, who cowrote the script with Takuma Takasaki, finds considerable beauty in Hirayama’s routine.

The German auteur turns his lens on Tokyo for what is, in part, a celebration of the city’s excellent public toilets.