Michael's Movie Grade: A+
Another brilliant film from master director Wim Wenders.
When I first saw, Wings of Desire (1987), I know I had discovered a master filmmaker in Wim Wenders. As I delved into the filmmaker's filmography, I found myself completely enamored with the cinema of Wim Wenders. His new film, Perfect Days ranks among the director's most beautiful and touching work. This movie can easily hold its own among the director's great work of the 1970's, 80's and 90's.
At first glance this seems like an incredibly simple movie, where not much happens. We follow a toilet cleaner through his daily routine of mundane tasks. For the first 40 minutes or so, he hardly speaks a word but just attends to his work in a meticulous way, listens to rock music as he drives his truck and reads great books before bed. Yet these early scenes tell us a lot about this man. We learn that he is dedicated to his job and takes pride in working hard, even if it is a job that many would find degrading. We learn that he is quite intelligent but never pretentious about it. Most importantly we learn that he finds a sense of beauty in the mundane things that we tend to overlook every day. However just when we think we completely know who this man is, various little things happen that interrupt his daily routine, and this allows us to see that he is more complex than we first thought. Through all this, the movie becomes a brilliant character study through the most mundane things. Though little really happens in this film, we become strongly attached to this character. Through the course of this film, we experience a wide variety of emotions. There are many scenes that make us feel great joy, real sadness and all sorts of emotions in-between. This is not only because we connect with the main character. It is also due to (like our hero) this movie truly finds the beauty in the most mundane things. Because of this when you leave the theater the world may look a little more beautiful. And isn't the magic of movies at its fullest? Though this isn't escapism the same way that a fantasy film or an action flick may be, as you are watching this movie you may find all the little stresses in your life fade away. You may even get a new appreciation of life.
Wim Wenders has often sighted Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu as a strong influence. With the quiet, reflective and reserved filmmaking as well as the strong attention to the small and mundane, this has never been more evident. The influence is felt through much of the film, yet Wenders never seems to be copying Ozu. Instead, this movie feels like the perfect blend of these sensibilities and Wenders' signature filmmaking style.
As should be expected of Wim Wenders, this movie brilliantly uses music. The use of the songs, our main character listens to in his truck is perfect. Not only is it a joy to listen to such artists as The Animals, Otis Redding, Patti Smith, The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, The Kinks and Van Morrison, but the songs also help put us in the emotional state of our main character. This expert use of these songs should come as no surprise. Not only has Wenders used songs perfectly in his previous movies but he has also directed music videos for such artists as Willie Nelson, U2 and Talking Heads.
Perfect Days is a perfect movie.
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