“A week in the life of a Tokyo toilet cleaner” doesn’t scream must-see but this understated drama by Wim Wenders is really rather lovely. After Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, LLC, it seems that German auteurs have taken a liking to making films in Japan and in Japanese. This rhapsody in loo stars Koji Yakusho (Babel, Memoirs of a Geisha) as Hirayama, a soulful sixtysomething who takes the business of scrubbing public lavatories very seriously. He has an array of specialised gadgets including a mop-squeezer and an extendable mirror that let him spot dirt in inaccessible crevices. Hirayama’s diligence contrasts with the gormlessness of his young colleague, Takashi (Tokio Emoto), who is glued to his phone while half-heartedly dabbing at the porcelain.
It’s hard work, but not that hard — the Tokyo WCs are shrines compared with their average counterparts in Britain. Had Perfect Days been set in Hackney or Glasgow, Hirayama would be a wreck. And it certainly wouldn’t have been called Perfect Days. As it is he radiates quiet contentment, only speaking a handful of lines in the film. When he’s not working he takes comfort in the bathhouse, tending to plants and retro pursuits, listening to classic western pop on tape in his car and taking snapshots of trees with an analogue camera. There’s also a sweet, drawn-out game of noughts and crosses, played with a stranger on a piece of paper hidden behind a cistern.
The meditative rhythm of Hirayama’s daily routine barely changes until he gets a surprise visit from his niece, Niko (Arisa Nakano), who has run away from her mother, his estranged sister. The encounter reawakens memories. How has he ended up here? His family seem to be the only part of the past he is not nostalgic about. It’s hinted that he comes from a relatively affluent background and could have fled a domineering father. Dream sequences suggest a past love. He reads a Patricia Highsmith novel — could it be The Talented Mr Ripley, the story of a man who reinvents himself? Has Hirayama done the same?
Wenders handles most of this with a feather-light touch, leaving the questions open. Yes, he can fetishise Japanese minimalism and serenity, and the music choices are a bit on-the-nose: Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, the Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon and especially Lou Reed’s Perfect Day. There’s a guileless purity to the film, though, and a delicate, contemplative performance from Yakusho. Whatever happened to Hirayama in the past, he and his toilet gadgets are doing just fine.
★★★★☆
PG, 125m
In cinemas Feb 23
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