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Post by countjohn on Feb 10, 2024 4:15:31 GMT
Pretty much a movie about a guy cleaning public toilets all day and the people he meets. One of those "man doing mundane things" movies but I think I liked it better than the recent Zone of Interest because it has more of a distinct feel to it and feels more "lived in". The mostly silent protagonist here gives an expressive performance and there's some good comic relief and lively supporting characters he meets too. Anyone who knows anything about my musical taste knows I'm going to like a soundtrack with Patty Smith, Lou Reed, and The Kinks on it.
By Wenders standards maybe not the most interesting visuals and cinematography ever but Tokyo is beautiful and there's an interesting dream sequence near the end.
Not going to be "one for the time capsule" in the Wim Wenders filmography but still a pretty good movie that I was glad to see once. 7/10 and maybe just misses my top ten of last year.
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Post by JangoB on Feb 10, 2024 10:35:01 GMT
Truly solid, sometimes even excellent, but also surprisingly... twee? Admittedly, I haven't been following Wim Wenders's 21st century exploits but I still didn't expect the director of The American Friend and Paris, Texas to go so whimsical (Wimsical?) while dealing with this particular subject matter. I mean, I understand that the film is about appreciating the simplest of things in life but the protagonist, Hirayama, felt like he was a few steps away from dipping his (hopefully washed) hands into sacks of grain or imagining how many orgasms were being had at this or that moment. But I suppose I'd have those sweet joie de vivre juices flowing through me as well if I were cleaning toilets this fancy and awesome in a country this bent on keeping everything tidy. I bet we'd be watching a very different movie if the story was set in a small Siberian town or something. Seriously, in addition to being a very nice film, Perfect Days serves as a real great ad for the Tokyo Toilet project which is kinda how it was conceived in the first place. And hey, nothing wrong with that! I had a really good time. I guess I just wanted the film to be a bit deeper, or maybe even simpler than it already was.
One thing I certainly have zero qualms about is Kōji Yakusho's absolutely wonderful, warm performance. There's one bit where he's enjoying a bath with his face half-submerged in water and you see his eyes smiling. I believe it's impossible not to have your spirits lifted at that point. And moments like that, courtesy of Yakusho, are plentiful.
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Post by Martin Stett on Mar 30, 2024 0:27:52 GMT
Sweet enough at first, but then it just treads water for the next seventy minutes before stuffing loads of *drama* into the last bits. The trouble is that Hirayama is such a blank slate of a character, no matter what Yakusho does to pretend he's more than that.
Sachiko Kanenobu - one of my favorite musical artists - is on the soundtrack though, so for that alone I'm grateful
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Mar 30, 2024 3:46:50 GMT
Tokyo's public toilets are insane
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Post by stabcaesar on Mar 30, 2024 8:17:33 GMT
Tokyo's public toilets are insane Well I can tell you that there are very, very few of them, and the toilets have no bins. Actually the entire city has very few bins. It’s a city that disapproves of basic human needs lol |
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Post by MsMovieStar on Apr 29, 2024 18:23:51 GMT
Oh honeys, could somebody explain this movie to me?
All I saw was a middle aged man cleaning toilets for 2 hours. OK given that some of the Japanese toilets showcased were pretty spectacular, especially the ones with the colored glass cubicles in the busy park that went opaque at the push of a button (think of the fun that could be had with that before the police come for you?) but really... Some people are calling this movie a masterpiece and it has an IMDb rating of 7.9/10. WTF?
The movie I made using a toilet passed unnoticed - my acting coach suggested that I should have made more noise... although it did attract a trickle of fans - or maybe it was politely ignored... Perhaps instead of using it, I should have cleaned it!
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Apr 29, 2024 18:28:14 GMT
Tokyo's public toilets are insane Well I can tell you that there are very, very few of them, and the toilets have no bins. Actually the entire city has very few bins. It’s a city that disapproves of basic human needs lol that's too bad, because the bathroom architecture was the most interesting thing about this movie |
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