REEL | Such 'Perfect Days' Cleaning Toilets x TIFF 2023

"Next time is next time. Now is now."

Toronto International Film Festival

Renowned German filmmaker Wim Wenders directs the slice-of-life Japanese tale, Perfect Days, about the everyday value and life-affirming joy of hard work. Starring acting great Koji Yakusho as a middle-aged public washroom cleaner for the Tokyo Toilet Project, we follow his repetitious daily habits and routine.

Scripted by Wenders and Tokio Emoto, Perfect Days unfolds as a series of days cleaning toilets, driving around, interacting with co-workers, greeting strangers, and seeing relatives in a whistful manner set to popular 1970s American glam rock tracks played on cassette tapes like the titular post-Velvet Underground Lou Reed pop song.

Wenders crafts such a fully realized interior world from a singular character's point-of-view expressed cinematically through small moments of pure tranquillity. It's an aspirational film of meaningful observations appreciating the natural beauty of daily life and celebrating the little things we take for granted.

Perfect Days screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Special Presentations program.


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