Perfect Days

Wenders teams up with Koji Yakusho to shoot a film in Japan. I'm not quite sure why, but it's rare to see a foreign director fare well in Japan, and Wenders fails to change that perception. Perfect Days is a tepid, old-fashioned, and dire drama that, once again, sports an unnecessarily ugly aspect ratio.

Hirayama is a simple man who enjoys his basic lifestyle. He has a quiet job, he loves his routines and he manages to enjoy the little things in life. Through a series of haphazard meetings, we learn about the drama in his past, and how he adapted his life to carve his own path.

The soundtrack is a selection of crappy pop classics (because our dearest Hirayama loves cassettes), the cinematography is lifeless, often downright ugly and Hirayama is an uninteresting character. Nor did I fully agree with the overarching message of this film. Apart from some solid performances, there's very little here. Disappointing.