Movie Review: Perfect Days

Hirayama (Koji Yakusha) is a janitor who travels around Tokyo cleaning public toilets. At a very basic level, that is all that "Perfect Days" is about. And at just over two hours, there is not enough plot to fill that time.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy this movie. I thought that Yakusha did a great job playing this role. He is very subdued and barely speaks for the first hour or so. Hairayama is a man who is meticulous, takes pride in what he does, and finds joy in the small moments of everyday life. He may have a job cleaning public toilets, but he makes sure he leaves them pristine. Takashi (Tokio Emoto), another janitor who works with him, asks him why he works so hard on cleaning when they are just going to get dirty again. He even comments on the fact that Hairayama brings his own cleaning supplies. These moments tell you all you need to know about Hairayama.

And that is why I don't think the movie has enough plot to support the runtime. In the first 10-15 minutes, you know who Hairayama is and can move on to the meat of the story. Instead, the movie spends another hour hammering home this point before we see any real disruption to his routine.

There are plenty of beautiful moments and, to be honest, toilets in the movie. If the movie was 90 minutes, it would be a fantastic movie with great performances and stunning visuals.

6/10

Rated PG for some language, partial nudity, and smoking.

2h. 3m.