Film “Perfect Days”: Wim Wenders: “You miss the attention for the now”

»Perfect Days« is about the life of a Japanese toilet cleaner. The film premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Festival. The main actor Kōji Yakusho was awarded Best Actor there.

Mr. Wenders, what motivated you to tell the story of the toilet cleaner Hirayama? Did you know such a person before, or does the peculiarity of Tokyo toilets make you think about who the people who work there are?

The reason for joining was, firstly, homesickness for Tokyo. I haven’t been there for almost ten years and also missed two trips due to the pandemic. And then an invitation came asking if I wanted to look at the toilet palaces by 15 architects that were opened for the 2020 Olympics and make a documentary about it. Because I’ve been working on a big film about architecture for years, I said: Okay, any reason to come to Tokyo is nice. Then I saw the toilets in these small parks. Truly a toilet dream! If you were to think about where you would like to go to a quiet place in the middle of the city, then you couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than these little houses. But I had no desire to make a documentary about toilets. It’s a social project. And the nice thing about it is when you learn more about Japan at the little house – namely about the importance of service, service to the community and the common good in general. The common good has really declined for us during the pandemic. In Japan the opposite was the case: the common good prevailed; The homeless people who stayed in these toilet houses cleaned them themselves. Then I said: Let me make a film about what a beautiful good the common good is; That’s what the toilets were made for. Then we developed the character of a cleaning man. An actor came into play, Kōji Yakusho, who I have admired since I first saw him in Shall We Dance? It was said he might play the cleaner. Then it was clear: If he took part, we would write a nice story for him. This is how this Hirayama came about.

Where does your fascination for Japan come from?

A long story. It started when I saw films by a Japanese director, Yasujirō Ozu, for the first time in the 70s – I had already made four or five films myself. I knew film history backwards and forwards and had already seen thousands of films at the Cinémathèque, but they didn’t have Ozu. I saw this man’s films for the first time in New York and thought, he’s actually my great master. Even if I discovered it too late. I have seen all of his films, traveled to Japan for the first time to see more, without subtitles. That’s also where I came into contact with Japanese culture for the first time. I actually found myself so at home in these films and in this country, I found it beautiful how people treat each other and what a different value the general welfare and social issues have. I’ve filmed there three times and now, as soon as I talk to you, I’m homesick again.

Is the format you chose also a nod to Ozu?

We chose this format because it is a bit old-fashioned, but not least because it makes it easier to capture the spaces in these toilets. And because it also captured the beautiful tatami room, this simple booth where Hirayama lives, better than Cinemascope or a longer image. It was also appropriate for his work. And I think it also fits in well with his love of analogue, reading and his cassettes. You might think: Pah, cassettes, that’s ancient stuff. But in Japan it’s all the rage right now, and there are stores on every corner where you can buy Walkmans and all music back on cassettes. The young people there want to make compilations again and are tired of these playlists where everyone can mess around. I also took out my cassettes and reconnected my Nakamichi. This analog culture is currently making a big comeback and is also awakening a certain longing for haptics.

In the film there are questions like: “Do shadows get darker when they overlap?” or: “Why can’t every day be the same?” Are these questions that you ask yourself?

I’ve already tried to make a utopian film – in this situation where these questions escape us. First of all, myself! I’m a workaholic, always have a busy calendar and find myself constantly reaching for my cell phone. In the meantime I think I can leave something out too. I realize with great sadness what you miss in this culture that tells you that you can’t miss anything. You miss the attention for today and for the now and for what is in front of you. And Hirayama shows you this beautifully in the film. There’s a beautiful word in Japanese, but it takes a lot of sentences in German: it’s called Komorebi. It’s the shadow that the sun casts through leaves. So that’s the classic Komorebi: When a shadow play suddenly appears on the floor or on a wall. This is a spectacle that is very fleeting and that is actually only there for the person watching. And Hirayama has a great attention to it. This is actually his favorite subject to photograph: the komorebis, the leaves and the trees.

The Cannes competition spotlight can be a double-edged sword. It can shine a light on a small film that might not otherwise be seen, but it can also put too much pressure on a film like Perfect Days. What was it like for you to be in competition with this work?

The competition was presented in the middle of a time when everything is going haywire. It’s the same in the film business and in the way we watch films. Most of us don’t watch that much films. Maybe it’s different for you, you still sometimes watch films on screen for work. But most others watch it on the computer, and some on their cell phones. It’s such a game of fate these years. Cannes has decided to only show films that have a film release, Venice has opened the gate wide, Berlin is still hesitant. There is a major cultural shift in how we deal with images and what images mean to us. And I think it’s nice that you can show something that is actually somewhat old-fashioned in terms of format, and our stereo isn’t that bombastic either. I think it has a place in Cannes because it’s also a kind of anti-image and because it perhaps upholds a cinema that’s in quite a bit of danger right now.

»Perfect Days« seems a bit like a documentary. And it’s interesting, your documentary “Anselm”, which also premiered at the Cannes Festival, has feature film elements. How did the documentary work like a feature film and the feature film work like a documentary?

You’ve discovered me! (smiles) I actually like making my documentaries with fictional elements. I also like to shoot them the same way you shoot a feature film – my documentaries aren’t with a shaky camera, but for the feature film we shot everything handheld. And we shot it incredibly quickly, ultimately like you would actually shoot a documentary. We did over 50 takes every day. And that’s practically impossible in the cinema. Even on TV it’s too much.

Out of necessity?

Our main character Kōji Yakusho only had a time window of 16 days in which we had to finish. We managed that well because we didn’t shoot it like we would a feature film. Our big advantage, which I only found out later, was that Kōji Yakusho cleaned toilets for 14 days with a head cleaner; But he didn’t tell us anything. Basically, he could do the job inside out. I could watch it like in a documentary.

How did you find your co-screenwriter Takuma Takasaki? Was he suggested to you?

He was the one who invited me to show me these toilets; he knew my affinity for architecture. Then I decided to tell a story where these toilets are not the main setting, but integrated. I also read what he wrote. He has written novels and is also a poet. So I had a wonderful co-author. We actually wrote together at the same table. And he was always there while filming. It’s just a dream that the author is there. I’ve only managed to have the writers be part of the team two or three times in my life. I don’t imagine that I can write good dialogue at all. In the films in which I wrote the dialogue myself, all the people talk like me. That’s not my talent. (laughs) The good Rüdiger Vogler had to deal with a lot of my dialogues and was called my alter ego not only because of that, but also because he said what I would have otherwise said. (smiles)

»Perfect Days«, Japan 2023. Director: Wim Wenders; Book: Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders. With: Kōji Yakusho. 123 min. Release date: December 21st.