Perfect Days
I was thrilled to watch it on my return flight after a 2-week vacation.
The 124-minute film follows the daily life of a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo – that’s it.
And it won the Cannes Film Festival’s Prix du Jury Œcuménique and the actor, Kōji Hashimoto, won the Prix d’interprétation masculine.
I love simplicity — and naturally, this film piqued my interest.
Indeed, the film is filled with moments that are both nothing and everything.
Just him — waking to the sound of someone sweeping, spritzing his plants, brushing his teeth at the sink downstairs, going up to get dressed, then coming down again to collect his neatly laid-out belongings from the front porch, jingling a few coins, tossing them into an old vending machine for his BOSS coffee, getting into his car, selecting a cassette tape, popping it in, and driving off to clean toilets.
Rinse and repeat. Small inconveniences, occasional surprises, and sometimes shocks may disrupt his rhythm, but he always circles back to his rinse and repeat.
A life like ours. But better.
He’s complete.
Looking up
I’m especially in love with the moments when he looks up—be it a voluntary pause as he steps out of his house or an involuntary pause as he lets the often oblivious users use the toilets he’s cleaning.
He always looks up, then smiles.
His favourite view is the 木漏れ日(komorebi), sunlight filtering through tree leaves. Between lunchtime bites, he looks up, pulls out an Olympus digital camera from his left chest pocket, snaps a single shot of the 木漏れ日, then tucks the camera back close to his heart.
He doesn’t dwell on the outcome — that’s for next time.
He simply enjoys the now.
It perfectly embodies his perfect line:
「今度は今度、今は今。」
Now is the only thing we own.
Yet we yearn for the next time: the next time we assemble, the next time we travel, the next time we eat.
When now is the only thing we own.
Fast-forward is the city’s pulse.
Pause is the breath, the way to take in the transient
Play of light and shadow; the sway of leaves in
Slow motion…
for Rewind is a choice we do not have in life.
Thank you, Perfect Days.
It’s the perfect end to my 2-week vacation as I return to my Perfect Days.
