Wim Wenders

The latest feature film from star director Wim Wenders is a profoundly moving and poetic contemplation of the beauty of the everyday world and the uniqueness of every individual. „Perfect Days“ is about Hirayama, a toilet cleaner in the metropolis of Tokyo. Seemingly completely content with his simple, reclusive life, he dedicates himself outside of his extremely structured daily routine to his passion for music, which he listens to on audio cassettes, and for literature, which he reads in used paperbacks. Through a series of unexpected encounters, a past he thought he had long left behind gradually comes to light.

By Anna Faroqhi and Haim Peretz

What was the decisive moment for this extraordinary story?

Donata Wenders: The whole thing started when Wim was asked if he could make a film about very special toilet buildings, which was a kind of call for tenders. The initiator wanted to show the toilets that were built there by very special architects - all little gems in the Shibuya district in Tokyo and a little lost due to the Corona period - that these gems should be shown. Then he turned to a well-known person who is actually more involved in advertising (co-writer and producer Takuma Takasaki, editor's note) and he said: „I know who you have to talk to, you have to talk to Wim Wenders“. He was a total fan of Wim and had always wanted to work with Wim, so he said: „This is my chance.“ And then came this request. It was actually supposed to be a series of short documentary episodes. And then Wim said: „Any excuse is fine for me to come to Tokyo.“ He looked at the beautiful buildings and then he said: „That's a shame. Who watches all these little films about architecture? It gets lost in an art niche.“ We were just in Tokyo for a few days and Wim was totally fascinated by how people treat each other after corona and how the focus was on togetherness and the common good. So, no dirt in the parks. They were all so attentive to each other as a society, something we hadn't experienced here in Germany. So Wim said he would like to make a story out of it. And the main character is the one who cleans the toilets.

Mr. Wenders, how did you approach the filming? As a documentarian or as a narrative filmmaker?

Wim Wenders: We had a double approach. We didn't have much time. We knew from the start that we had a 17-day shooting schedule. And of course you can't do much forever. There was also a longing to follow this man's daily routine almost like a documentary. Then I spoke to the cameraman Franz Lustig. The two of us have already made a few documentaries together. Franz is really good with a Steadycam device called „Easy Rigg“. The cameraman holds the camera by the eye, but flexibly attached to a rucksack via a gallows. So he no longer has to carry the weight. He can actually shoot forever with it. Franz has a button in his ear and I talk to him quietly and Franz can react in seconds and always be where I wish the camera was. So we shot very quickly and very easily. We only did almost every shot once and didn't interrupt the scenes. Nevertheless, we always tried to make fixed shots. You notice that the camera vibrates a little. You can feel the hand and the eye behind it, but it's not a tripod. Franz is a living tripod. This approach was possible because our actor Kōji Yakusho quickly adapted to it. He was also very proud that he was practically accompanied by the camera and that he was actually the film with everything - with his body language, with who he is. So we treated a fictional film like a documentary. And our actor was so comfortable with a fictional role that he allowed us to do that. It's a language that I had never used or invented before.

Donata Wenders: Wim has always alternated between documentary and feature films. But for production reasons, he was never allowed to shoot the feature films chronologically, because that's more expensive. When you shoot a film chronologically, you have to go back to the same place more often and have to expect that you'll have to repeat a lot, including lighting and so on. And so they said they wouldn't shoot chronologically. But Wim, he's actually an artist, which means he can't really do that very well: shooting the middle or the end at the beginning. Then you're stuck in a box and just have to fill it in. And that's exactly what became possible with this film because of the Japanese production, because they said: „Please shoot the way you want to shoot.“

And Wim hadn't heard that for 30 years.

How was the collaboration with lead actor Koji Yakusho?

Donata Wenders: Kōji Yakusho doesn't speak English, so maybe one or two words. So we relied on translations. The script was written in English and then translated into Japanese. Kōji prepared very intensively. He learned toilet cleaning from a city-employed toilet cleaner. Actually, you're used to rehearsing and then filming. And then Wim said the first time, „Okay, we'll film the rehearsal.“ Kōji found that strange at first, but then Wim was already satisfied. And because of that, there was a tension between Wim and the actor. They clarified everything with glances. There was high concentration. And it was clear, Kōji will do what he's supposed to do for the role, and Wim will accompany him. This is how he got into his role. There were practically no – or not many – second takes. That's how they filmed, like a documentary.

How did so many precise details, such as bowing under a torii gate, come about in the development of the character Hirayama, the toilet cleaner?

Donata Wenders: This is a person who has chosen to live a simple life. And this life actually evokes very Japanese traditions. Many Japanese people who saw the film said: „Yes, you remind us of what is important to us.“ It was very important to Wim that it came about naturally, that he didn't bow out of duty, as in church or something, but out of an inner need. He bows to life itself. His gaze, when he goes out the door and looks up, that is actually his ritual. On difficult days, you understand that it's not so easy. I would say he is a person who is content, at peace.

The same actions are retold in variations over and over in the film. What are the considerations behind this?

Wim WendersA film featuring a routine shouldn't become boring, and routine can only be beautiful if someone approaches it with the intention of experiencing each day anew.

Donata WendersAnd with the claim that routine becomes ritual.

Wim WendersExactly. You have to do a ritual as well as you possibly can. That means, every time with fervor, and always be mentally present. Kōji Yakusho understood this so well that he truly applied the actor's maxim of doing everything as if it were the first time to his profession. We were able to treat him as if he were truly a toilet cleaner who believes in this dogma that you can't do anything twice, but rather do everything in life only once.

What books are actually read in the movie?

Wim WendersTakuma Takasaki and I discussed for a long time what the character should read in the film. Then Takuma said, „You choose the first book, and I'll get the second.“ So I chose „Sartoris“ (originally "Flags in the Dust," but Faulkner's "Wild Palms" was published in German as "Wild Palms" and renamed "Sartoris" in German by a different translator, hence the confusion, editor's note), simply because it's my favorite book. And then I also thought that the title alone would interest the character, because there's a tree in it, and palm trees are also trees. A few scenes later, it was Takuma's turn with his book. He said, "Then I'll take a tree too. There's a beautiful book by a Japanese author who is completely underrated but really great, it's called 'Trees'." Then we took the book by Aya Koda. And the third was actually an exception. That's a book his niece pulls off the shelf, by Patricia Highsmith ("The Snail Watcher. Eleven Stories," editor's note). That one is more of an outlier. The other two are books where trees appear. It was that simple.

Wie wird die Vorgeschichte der Figur des Hirayama im Film sichtbar?

Wim WendersHe wasn't always a toilet cleaner. He also had another life, which you get a bit of a sense of when his niece visits and when his sister arrives in her luxury car with an expensive chocolate gift from a specialty shop that only sells very expensive things. Everyone in Japan knows that, of course, when she holds out the bag.

Also, one senses that there was a whole life there, a richness too. And one realizes that he doesn't want to go back there, that he made a conscious decision.

Can you tell us the backstory?

Wim WendersHe had everything, but he wasn't satisfied. He no longer had a good relationship with his wife either. And like many Japanese people, he started drinking. He hated his life, led an empty life. And one day he woke up in a flophouse because he had probably had sex somehow the night before, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He wakes up and is actually devastated. Then he stares at the wall in front of him, in this rancid room, and then a small miracle happens. The rising morning sun shines through the high window in the room. And a ray of this morning sun shines through some puny little tree standing in front of the window onto the wall in front of him. And there appears a play of light from the sun and leaves. He has never seen anything like it. He has probably seen it many times before, but he has never noticed it. And at this moment, at this crossroads in his life, it is like a great sign for him. And then he decides to leave behind the whole life he was about to give up anyway and lead a different life, one in which he pays attention to trees, sun and wind.

Now he lives with the awareness that he's on the right track with this Komorebi. Komorebi is the Japanese word for this play of light from sun, wind, and leaves.

Ms. Wenders, you conceived and filmed the dreams. What did you consider and do there?

Donata Wenders: Also, my task was to visualize this „komorebi“ awareness that resonates throughout the film like an undertone, a bass line. So I first looked at the screenplay: "What was there on Day One, on Day Two, what does he experience then?" Whether it's an active or a quiet day, and who he meets. Then I made a list. And during this time, it only shone on four days.

Wim WendersThat means we had twelve days of rain.

Donata Wenders: It was an interesting challenge that changed my life a little. I saw that - even when the sun is hidden, i.e. not shining - there is always a kind of Komorebi. Even if it's not the sun shining through the leaves: plays of light are created by materials, reflections or surfaces. That is perhaps a more modern way of thinking. Of course, I've also been out at night looking for Komorebis. And then I realized - also translated into life - that light is always there with its beautiful play. I just have to learn to see it. I was in a team with another woman from Europe who speaks fluent Japanese. We were on the hunt for the Komorebi jewels on the one hand and on the other hand we were at the locations and filmed. The dreams were supposed to be a little hint, like a reworking of the days. I cut the material with an editor I usually work with. We cut a short finished sequence for each dream. Wim and his editor Toni (Froschhammer, editor's note) then inserted them. So, I had a lot of freedom to say. „This is what I think this dream should look like.“ We thought it was a great fit. (Wim Wenders nods.)

Thank you for the conversation!

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Photo: MASTER_MIND