Review – Perfect Days (2023) directed by Wim Wenders.
Watched on March 3rd, 2025
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Lately, I’ve been struggling to find joy in things unrelated to my career and my work. If I’m not actively working on finding or jump starting a career, it’s been difficult to allow myself joy in other things. Reading books, working on other unrelated projects, going outside, learning new things, even watching movies sometimes; all of these and more were things that, for whatever reason, I can’t seem to indulge in them let alone seek them out whilst my career is in an unideal place. Yes I’m young and yes there is so much time left, but it has been a struggle nonetheless. In watching this film, I’m so many ways I feel seen in this and feel touched and inspired by it too. Not a lot happens in the film, but so much is said an expressed through simple actions and the gentle nature of this film’s tone. Like Wim Wenders’ other films I’ve seen, there’s always such a tender tone laced within the film and its story (even if it also carries darker and more sad undercurrents as well). I wish I had watched this film a lot sooner than I did; through Wim Wenders and cinematographer Frank Lustig’s eyes, and such a wonderfully nuanced and compelling performance from Kôji Yakusho, the film revels in the beauty of everyday life. Despite living in a bustling and overwhelming city, despite inconveniences with fellow employees or the work itself, despite encounters with strangers who may not bite as one’s gesture of kindness, despite cleaning toilets for a living, one still manages to find happiness and beauty in the everyday. In tending to plants, the morning sky, observing others, taking in nature, reading a book, enjoying a song, and so much more. I think what struck me most about the film is how it conveys the fragility of such a beautiful sentiment; this isn’t just a film that preaches about finding the beauty in everyday life, but rather that it can be difficult to maintain such a mindset in the face of hardship and difficulty. I think the film’s final moments were what cemented this film is a favorite, one I perhaps couldn’t have watched at a more perfect time. Like many of my movie-watching experiences that inspire me, it isn’t always an instantaneous switch that has me starting fresh the next day. I may wake up tomorrow and feel the same. But this film served as a warm reminder that finding beauty and enjoyment in life can and is allowed to exist in any hardship or any circumstance; that’s not to say it’s easy and I love this movie for also conveying that real truth, but it is there nonetheless. Perfect days don’t need to be filled with the greatest moments all of the time, but if for moment you can find beauty and joy, perhaps that is all that is needed to make it perfect enough.
“KOMOREBI: is the Japanese word for the shimmering of light and shadows that is created by leaves swaying in the wind. It only exists once, AT THAT MOMENT.”
Check out the original review posted on Letterboxd here.
