Wim Wenders바카라 Perfect Days (2023) revolves around Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), a toilet cleaner content with his job and life. He spends most of his days listening to music, reading books, going to a public bath, and enjoying drinks at a local bar. Unlike the people around him, Hirayama has no greater ambitions. He seems satisfied with his job, as it can finance the subdued lifestyle he always wanted. But he wasn바카라t always a toilet cleaner. The film hints at a privileged life that Hirayama left behind to move away from materialism and find inner-fulfilment, implying that his happiness results from a much simpler lifestyle.
We rarely see working-class characters as protagonists in popular cinema, so the movie intrigued me. I was eager to explore the realities of the working-class life in Japan, a demographic overlooked in popular media. So I walked into the film expecting to see an honest depiction of the life of a toilet cleaner, but I walked out feeling cheated.
Why? Let바카라s first consider Hirayama바카라s daily routine: buying coffee, travelling in a car, visiting a public bath, drinking at bars바카라none of this comes for cheap, even for someone living frugally. He also lives in a big house and owns a van. I checked with my friend in Japan, who said it didn바카라t sound like the portrayal of a toiler cleaner, but a fairy tale. Wenders, as a result, diminishes the hardships faced by the working-class and risks romanticising the reality of this profession. It results in a picture-perfect, sanitised version of the working-class life. Perfect Days would have been more honest had Wenders marketed it as 바카라quasi-fantasy바카라.
He also omits the stigmas that sting a toilet cleaner. One scene, though, touches upon this: Hirayama finds a lost child at work and helps reunite him with his mother. But instead of showing gratitude, she wipes the child바카라s hand, as if he바카라s become 바카라polluted바카라 by Hirayama바카라s touch. It hints at the shame and social bias associated with such professions but, besides this small bit, the film remains indifferent to it. Hirayama, ever kind and composed, accepts the insult and moves on, and the movie never reflects on the incident. Is Hirayama used to such insults? We don바카라t know. Moreover, it felt like the movie doesn바카라t want to know, as it could 바카라sully바카라 the bubble of the portrayal of a toilet cleaner.
So, despite making Hirayama바카라s profession the focal point, Perfect Days only pretends to engage with the life of a toilet cleaner, glossing over the job바카라s real challenges. It바카라s instead more captivated by the 바카라aesthetic바카라 of their work, presenting beautifully composed shots of The Tokyo Toilet Project, emphasising sophistication and modernity. It dilutes the specificities of Hirayama바카라s profession, turning it into a narrative gimmick. The film would have worked perfectly fine had Hirayama바카라s profession been something else.
Perfect Days is also co-written and produced by Takuma Takasaki, the creative director of Dentsu Group, which collaborated with Koji Yanai, the board director of the Fast Retailing group, on The Tokyo Toilet Project. The project developed 17 high-tech toilets designed by the world-renowned architects in the Shibuya Yard of Tokyo. The film spares no effort in portraying these sleek, state-of-the-art facilities in all their elegance, reinforcing the sense that it바카라s more interested in these toilets than those who maintain them. As a result, Hirayama바카라s identity feels disconnected from his profession and other toilet cleaners. He has no friends in his field, except for one young colleague with whom he shares his work hours. But this character is portrayed as comical, clumsy and inept바카라an obvious contrast to Hirayama바카라s composed and privileged background, making the disparity between them even more apparent.
A romanticised portrayal of the working-class just serves the privileged, allowing them to indulge in the fantasy of 바카라simple living바카라 that they want to 바카라experience바카라. This skewed image trivialises the real problems experienced by individuals for whom 바카라simplicity바카라 is not a choice but stems from structural injustice.
