Perfect Days (2024 in Spain)

Plot of Perfect Days: Hiramaya is a middle aged man living in an extremely small dwelling in Tokyo. He gets up every morning, prepares for the day, buys a can of coffee from a vending machine and starts off on his round of toilet cleaning in a small van. While on the way to his work he plays classic rock music on the van’s tape player. He lunches in a park and photographs trees with an old 35mm camera. At the end of the day he eats in a noisy café and retires to his futon to read. Sometimes he goes to public baths, buys a book from a second hand book store and at weekends washes his boiler suit in a launderette, then goes to a bar where he is served by a lady in traditional costume. His routine is disturbed by his stupid assistant, and by the fact that he sometimes has to do two jobs when the assistant gives up. Also he is disturbed by his niece who has temporarily run away from home, until collected by his sister in a chauffer driven car.

Content: No sex or nudity, just a bit of drinking and smoking. We think Hiramaya is being served water in the places he goes to. He drives the van about listening to the rock music. He cleans the toilets in a well defined manner, since he is very efficient.  Wherever he goes he sees the same people. The young assistant is annoying. As well as the taped rock music the traditionally clothed lady in the small bar sings The House of the Rising Sun. The arrival of the niece and then his sister hints at a previous life, as does a brief drnking and smoking session when his routine is disturbed.

A View: Not many people have seen this film, although feted by a limited number of reviewers and winning a number of awards already. We are able to admire the fact that this man has made his life as simple as it can possibly be and gets satisfaction from his simple activities, and we feel for him when he is disturbed. The House of the Rising Sun sung in Japanese is heartrendingly beautiful. It is one of my Desert Island Discs anyway, so I was on side from the start. It is a great film and I would absolutely recommend it as an alternative to much of what we are expected to watch in 2024.

Fun Fact: It was filmed in 17 days in Tokyo, which if you think about it must have required a lot of planning and some skilled editing.