Wim Wenders's Perfect Days is now showing on Mubi in many countries.Perfect Days.“She uses the same words we do, yet there’s something so special.” This commentary is delivered by a bookseller (Inuko Inuyama) in Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days (2023). The woman behind the counter is recommending the works of Japanese author Aya Kōda to the film’s protagonist, Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho). But she could just as easily be describing the spell cast by the movie itself, which uses familiar settings and understated dialogue to summon a quiet, pervasive magic. In the New German Cinema director’s latest feature, which takes place in present-day Tokyo, sudden waves of hope, gratitude, and meaning can arrive through brief interactions with strangers, a tall glass of ice water, a beloved song heard through car speakers, or just an upward glance at the sky upon leaving the house in the morning.Through these simple encounters,...
- 4/19/2024
- MUBI
Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s The Gospel Of The Beast won the top Golden Star Award for best Southeast Asian film at the first Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam, which also saw several titles dropped from the final programme due to censorship by local authorities.
The Gospel Of The Beast marks the first feature in seven years from Dayoc and tells the story of a teenage boy who accidentally kills his classmate and runs away with an older man he barely knows, forming a unique father-son relationship. It premiered at Tokyo in October.
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The Gospel Of The Beast marks the first feature in seven years from Dayoc and tells the story of a teenage boy who accidentally kills his classmate and runs away with an older man he barely knows, forming a unique father-son relationship. It premiered at Tokyo in October.
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- 4/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2023 Oscars Predictions:
Best Original Screenplay Past Lives, from left: Teo Yoo, Greta Lee, John Magro, 2023. © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Weekly Commentary: Following its victories at the Golden Globes for best screenplay and the BAFTA for original screenplay, it appears almost inevitable that “Anatomy of a Fall” will secure the Oscar for its co-writers,...
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2023 Oscars Predictions:
Best Original Screenplay Past Lives, from left: Teo Yoo, Greta Lee, John Magro, 2023. © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Weekly Commentary: Following its victories at the Golden Globes for best screenplay and the BAFTA for original screenplay, it appears almost inevitable that “Anatomy of a Fall” will secure the Oscar for its co-writers,...
- 3/7/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
It’s a weekend of well-reviewed indie openings with Bleecker Street’s Out Of Darkness, The Monk And The Gun (from the directors of Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom) and limited openings for The Taste Of Things, Perfect Days (Best International Feature nominated), Anthony Chen’s Drift, Bas Devos’ Here and Ennio by Giuseppe Tornatore, which premiered in Venice in 2021 and is finally getting a U.S. release.
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Japan’s official Oscar submission that nabbed a nom, opened at six locations in New York and LA Wednesday, adding additional cities next week. The film written by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki stars Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo who seems utterly content with his simple life until a series of unexpected encounters reveal more of his unearthed past. See Deadline review.
Neon had a qualifying run in November.
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Japan’s official Oscar submission that nabbed a nom, opened at six locations in New York and LA Wednesday, adding additional cities next week. The film written by Wenders and Takuma Takasaki stars Hirayama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo who seems utterly content with his simple life until a series of unexpected encounters reveal more of his unearthed past. See Deadline review.
Neon had a qualifying run in November.
- 2/9/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
You may know Kōji Yakusho as the oyster-slurping mystery man from the noodle-Western extraordinaire Tampopo (1985). Perhaps you remember him as the depressed suburbanite who ballroom dances his blues away in the international feel-good hit Shall We Dance? (1996). He’s the reformed felon in the Cannes-winning character study The Eel (1997), a former muse to filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa in the late Nineties and early aughts, the familiar face who graced Hollywood fare like Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Babel (2006), and — if you’ve followed his 40-plus years as a major figure in...
- 2/7/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Wim Wenders, the director of the Oscar-nominated Perfect Days on Hirayama’s (Kôji Yakusho) big lesson for his niece Niko (Arisa Nakano): “Come on, start living in the now. Now is now and then is then.” Photo: Master Mind Ltd.
On Tuesday, Wim Wenders' Perfect Days (co-written with Takuma Takasaki and starring Cannes Film Festival Best Actor winner Kôji Yakusho) received a Best International Feature Oscar nomination. Wenders has three Best Documentary Feature Oscar nominations:
Wim Wenders with Anne-Katrin Titze on using Yasujirō Ozu’s 3:4 format for Perfect Days and Anselm: “I got so much attached to it.”
In the second instalment with Wim Wenders we discuss the Yasujirō Ozu format and Cinemascope; Ts Eliot’s Little Gidding and returns to the...
On Tuesday, Wim Wenders' Perfect Days (co-written with Takuma Takasaki and starring Cannes Film Festival Best Actor winner Kôji Yakusho) received a Best International Feature Oscar nomination. Wenders has three Best Documentary Feature Oscar nominations:
Wim Wenders with Anne-Katrin Titze on using Yasujirō Ozu’s 3:4 format for Perfect Days and Anselm: “I got so much attached to it.”
In the second instalment with Wim Wenders we discuss the Yasujirō Ozu format and Cinemascope; Ts Eliot’s Little Gidding and returns to the...
- 1/27/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Wim Wenders, the director of Perfect Days and Anselm with Anne-Katrin Titze on the connection between Hirayama, played by the extraordinary Kôji Yakusho and Anselm Kiefer: “They both love nature.”
In the first instalment with Wim Wenders, the day after he presented Paris, Texas at the Wim Wenders: An American Cinematheque Retrospective in Los Angeles, we discuss the connection between his Oscar shortlisted entry from Japan, Perfect Days, and Anselm (Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit), his documentary in 3D on Anselm Kiefer, both shot by Franz Lustig.
Wim Wenders on Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho): “He only reads one book and when he’s finished he puts it on his shelf …” Photo: Master Mind Ltd.
We start out by remembering the conversation I had with Wim at the reception for his 2003 Pictures From The Surface of the Earth photograph exhibition at the James Cohan gallery in New York, where...
In the first instalment with Wim Wenders, the day after he presented Paris, Texas at the Wim Wenders: An American Cinematheque Retrospective in Los Angeles, we discuss the connection between his Oscar shortlisted entry from Japan, Perfect Days, and Anselm (Anselm - Das Rauschen der Zeit), his documentary in 3D on Anselm Kiefer, both shot by Franz Lustig.
Wim Wenders on Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho): “He only reads one book and when he’s finished he puts it on his shelf …” Photo: Master Mind Ltd.
We start out by remembering the conversation I had with Wim at the reception for his 2003 Pictures From The Surface of the Earth photograph exhibition at the James Cohan gallery in New York, where...
- 1/18/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It’s that time of year where critics, film buffs, and awards prognosticators come together and search for a consensus on what were “the best films” from the previous year. It’s already begun with the Golden Globes this past weekend and the Critics Choice Awards coming in the next. Perhaps more than most years, the frontrunners for “the best picture” prizes are obvious too.
That is all well and good, but sometimes attempting to find a consensus (or at least a horse race winner) deprives us from acknowledging our true favorites; films that you or I might have loved and are convinced no one else in the world has seen. These are the pictures that may not be “the best,” but they are favorites for our staff, and we’d like you to consider giving them a chance. Also feel free to shout out your own choices in the comments section below.
That is all well and good, but sometimes attempting to find a consensus (or at least a horse race winner) deprives us from acknowledging our true favorites; films that you or I might have loved and are convinced no one else in the world has seen. These are the pictures that may not be “the best,” but they are favorites for our staff, and we’d like you to consider giving them a chance. Also feel free to shout out your own choices in the comments section below.
- 1/12/2024
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
‘Perfect Days’ to Kick Off Wim Wenders Retrospective From American Cinematheque and Neon (Exclusive)
The American Cinematheque has programmed a retrospective to celebrate the work of three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders ahead of the Feb. 7 nationwide release of his latest film “Perfect Days,” Neon announced.
The retrospective screenings and in-person Q&As will begin on Jan. 11 at the Aero Theatre with a double feature of “Perfect Days” and “Tokyo-Ga” at 7:30 p.m. There will be a Q&a segment with the director in between the films. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday on the American Cinematheque website.
Shortlisted for best international film, “Perfect Days” is the Japanese submission for the 2024 Oscars. The film was awarded the prize of the ecumenial jury and the best actor award for Koji Yakusho at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Yakusho also executive produces the film, with Koji Yanai, Wenders and co-writer Takuma Takasaki producing it. Prior to its nationwide release, the film was released in limited theaters on Nov.
The retrospective screenings and in-person Q&As will begin on Jan. 11 at the Aero Theatre with a double feature of “Perfect Days” and “Tokyo-Ga” at 7:30 p.m. There will be a Q&a segment with the director in between the films. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday on the American Cinematheque website.
Shortlisted for best international film, “Perfect Days” is the Japanese submission for the 2024 Oscars. The film was awarded the prize of the ecumenial jury and the best actor award for Koji Yakusho at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Yakusho also executive produces the film, with Koji Yanai, Wenders and co-writer Takuma Takasaki producing it. Prior to its nationwide release, the film was released in limited theaters on Nov.
- 1/4/2024
- by Caroline Brew
- Variety Film + TV
Once upon a time, many many moons ago during a lunar eclipse (as the reception of his 2003 Pictures From The Surface Of The Earth photograph exhibition at the James Cohan gallery in New York was going on), Wim Wenders told me about his favourite fairy tale. Hans Im Glück, or Lucky Hans, trades in a series of exchanges all of his earthly possessions for something generally considered of lesser value until at the end, relieved of his burdens in a graceful way, finds what he was looking for all along.
The protagonist of the Oscar shortlisted Perfect Days, Hirayama, played by the extraordinary Kôji Yakusho (winner of the Best Actor Award at last year’s...
The protagonist of the Oscar shortlisted Perfect Days, Hirayama, played by the extraordinary Kôji Yakusho (winner of the Best Actor Award at last year’s...
- 1/1/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Los Angeles – December 18, 2023 – Japan House Los Angeles and Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia), the largest short film festivals in Asia and Academy Award® qualifying festivals, have joined together for the second time to showcase Short Shorts Film Festival in Hollywood on January 11, 2024. The one-day film festival celebrating film and culture will screen several diverse short films created by Japanese and international filmmakers, from up-and-comers to an Academy Award-winning filmmaker.
Marking the 5th anniversary of Japan House Los Angeles, and the 25th anniversary of the Ssff & Asia, this year's theme “Unlock Cinema | Short Films, Infinite Possibilities,” celebrates the filmmakers' journey, recognizing how most filmmakers' careers begin by creating short films, unlocking their potential to create feature-length films. The festival will also include a talk event by Ssff & Asia founder and President Tetsuya Bessho, Takuma Takasaki, co-writer and producer of “Perfect Days”, and moderated by USC's Senior Director of Festival,...
Marking the 5th anniversary of Japan House Los Angeles, and the 25th anniversary of the Ssff & Asia, this year's theme “Unlock Cinema | Short Films, Infinite Possibilities,” celebrates the filmmakers' journey, recognizing how most filmmakers' careers begin by creating short films, unlocking their potential to create feature-length films. The festival will also include a talk event by Ssff & Asia founder and President Tetsuya Bessho, Takuma Takasaki, co-writer and producer of “Perfect Days”, and moderated by USC's Senior Director of Festival,...
- 12/19/2023
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Winning Best Actor at Cannes for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” (Neon) was a surprise for veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho (“Shall We Dance?”). “I’m a very lucky man,” he told IndieWire on Zoom. And when he and Wenders heard that “Perfect Days,” despite its German director, was submitted by Japan for the Oscar, they cheered over dinner at Telluride “like we had just won the Academy Award,” said Yakusho. “Director Wim thought it would be more of a handicap that he’s not a Japanese director. But for the Japanese people, he knows the culture really well. And he also has spent a lot of time there. We were very proud to have him be selected as Japan’s entry.”
Yakusho knew Wenders’ work when he was asked to play Hiroyama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. “He was always looking for a new challenge in his filmmaking,” the actor said,...
Yakusho knew Wenders’ work when he was asked to play Hiroyama, a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo. “He was always looking for a new challenge in his filmmaking,” the actor said,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Two Japanese films take top honours, while Korean films ’Past Lives’ and ’Riceboy Sleeps’ are also awarded.
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.
The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.
The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes.
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Across a 45-year career in the movies, Koji Yakusho has worked with every major Japanese director of his generation and inhabited over 80 characters, spanning salarymen, samurai, yakuza gangsters, taxi drivers, journalists, cops, killers, heroes, dancers, seducers and everymen of all kinds. But in German filmmaker Wim Wender’s latest feature, the Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, the 68-year-old actor may have found the most natural vehicle yet for his screen persona’s unique blend of elegance and inward dignity. And he inhabits a humble toilet cleaner.
A deceptively simple character study of slowly accumulating emotional heft, Perfect Days features Yakusho in nearly every frame of its 123-minute runtime. He plays Hirayama, a man who would appear to have dropped out of life if he didn’t take such palpable pleasure in his modest daily routines. Hirayama works as the devoted cleaner of architecturally distinctive public restrooms in Tokyo’s city parks...
A deceptively simple character study of slowly accumulating emotional heft, Perfect Days features Yakusho in nearly every frame of its 123-minute runtime. He plays Hirayama, a man who would appear to have dropped out of life if he didn’t take such palpable pleasure in his modest daily routines. Hirayama works as the devoted cleaner of architecturally distinctive public restrooms in Tokyo’s city parks...
- 10/25/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Japan has selected Perfect Days, the Tokyo-based fiction feature from German filmmaker Wim Wenders, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.
The pic, which debuted in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was picked by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. The decision marks the first time a non-Japanese filmmaker has been chosen to lead the country’s Oscars push. Wenders’ Perfect Days is likely to have beat out Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron for the spot.
The film’s official synopsis reads: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for music and books. He loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveals more of his past.
Starring are Koji Yakusho (Babel), newcomer Arisa Nakano,...
The pic, which debuted in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was picked by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. The decision marks the first time a non-Japanese filmmaker has been chosen to lead the country’s Oscars push. Wenders’ Perfect Days is likely to have beat out Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron for the spot.
The film’s official synopsis reads: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine, he enjoys his passion for music and books. He loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveals more of his past.
Starring are Koji Yakusho (Babel), newcomer Arisa Nakano,...
- 9/4/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Marks the first time Japan has submitted a film by a non-Japanese director.
Japan has submitted Perfect Days by German filmmaker Wim Wenders for the best international feature film category at the 96th Academy Awards.
It represents the first time that Japan has selected a non-Japanese director in more than 70 years of submissions to the Oscars.
The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan chose the title from eight features, which is understood to have included strong contender The Boy And The Heron, likely the last feature of iconic animation filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away won best animated feature at...
Japan has submitted Perfect Days by German filmmaker Wim Wenders for the best international feature film category at the 96th Academy Awards.
It represents the first time that Japan has selected a non-Japanese director in more than 70 years of submissions to the Oscars.
The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan chose the title from eight features, which is understood to have included strong contender The Boy And The Heron, likely the last feature of iconic animation filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away won best animated feature at...
- 9/4/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
One of the pleasures of Telluride is watching a master auteur accept the Silver Medallion. Telluride Executive Director Julie Huntsinger was shocked to discover that in the 50 years of the festival, no Silver Medallion was ever awarded to German filmmaker Wim Wenders. So this year, he brought his two Cannes selections, 3D documentary “Anselm” (Sideshow and Janus) and Competition title “Perfect Days” (Neon), whose star Koji Yakusho (“Shall We Dance?”) won Best Actor at Cannes. Despite its German director, Japan has chosen to submit the film for the Oscar.
At Thursday night’s first tribute, Werner Herzog dug into his pocket to fish out the Silver Medallion, and placed it around his old friend’s neck. “The same time several years ago Tom Luddy put this on my neck,” said Herzog. “I kept thinking, ‘this is an injustice if you hadn’t received this medallion in 1978, and 1981, and 1995, and 2015.’ Because...
At Thursday night’s first tribute, Werner Herzog dug into his pocket to fish out the Silver Medallion, and placed it around his old friend’s neck. “The same time several years ago Tom Luddy put this on my neck,” said Herzog. “I kept thinking, ‘this is an injustice if you hadn’t received this medallion in 1978, and 1981, and 1995, and 2015.’ Because...
- 9/3/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-based Cannes Competition title Perfect Days has clocked a series of international deals for The Match Factory.
Deals reported include UK/Ireland/Latam/Turkey (Mubi), Australia/New Zealand (Madman), Benelux (Paradiso), China (DDDream), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Switzerland (Dcm), Baltics (A-One Baltics), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Cis (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Hungary (Cirko), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Poland (Gutek), Portugal (Alambique), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Film) and Taiwan (Applause).
North American rights were previously sold to Neon, while France went to Haut et Court.
The official synopsis for the movie reads: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected...
Deals reported include UK/Ireland/Latam/Turkey (Mubi), Australia/New Zealand (Madman), Benelux (Paradiso), China (DDDream), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Switzerland (Dcm), Baltics (A-One Baltics), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Cis (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Hungary (Cirko), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Poland (Gutek), Portugal (Alambique), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Film) and Taiwan (Applause).
North American rights were previously sold to Neon, while France went to Haut et Court.
The official synopsis for the movie reads: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected...
- 5/31/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which won the best actor award for Koji Yakusho at the Cannes Film Festival, has sold out worldwide. The Match Factory is handling international sales. (Read our interview with Wim Wenders here.)
As previously announced, North American rights went to Neon and France went to Haut et Court.
Further sales included U.K./Ireland/Latin America/Turkey (Mubi), Australia/New Zealand (Madman), Benelux (Paradiso), China (DDDream), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Switzerland (Dcm), Baltics (A-One Baltics), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Cis (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Hungary (Cirko), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Poland (Gutek), Portugal (Alambique), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Film) and Taiwan (Applause).
The film is a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. It follows Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo.
As previously announced, North American rights went to Neon and France went to Haut et Court.
Further sales included U.K./Ireland/Latin America/Turkey (Mubi), Australia/New Zealand (Madman), Benelux (Paradiso), China (DDDream), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Switzerland (Dcm), Baltics (A-One Baltics), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Cis (A-One), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Hungary (Cirko), Israel (Lev Cinemas), Poland (Gutek), Portugal (Alambique), Romania (Bad Unicorn), Scandinavia (Future Film) and Taiwan (Applause).
The film is a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. It follows Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo.
- 5/31/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Holding an extended closing shot on a character’s face has often been an effective way to illuminate whatever thoughts and feelings are running through their head, to keep them resonating through the end credits and even beyond. The device worked exceptionally well in Call Me by Your Name, Benediction and Michael Clayton.
Wim Wenders ends his eloquent and emotionally rich Japanese drama, Perfect Days, with such a shot, held tight on the extraordinarily expressive face of Koji Yakusho as his character drives through Tokyo reflecting on the rewards and perhaps also the regrets of his life with the same spirit of openness and acceptance, embracing the sadness as much as the joy.
The song that this resolutely analog man is listening to on his car cassette player is a Nina Simone standard that has become one of the most overused tracks in contemporary movies. But it fits the scene...
Wim Wenders ends his eloquent and emotionally rich Japanese drama, Perfect Days, with such a shot, held tight on the extraordinarily expressive face of Koji Yakusho as his character drives through Tokyo reflecting on the rewards and perhaps also the regrets of his life with the same spirit of openness and acceptance, embracing the sadness as much as the joy.
The song that this resolutely analog man is listening to on his car cassette player is a Nina Simone standard that has become one of the most overused tracks in contemporary movies. But it fits the scene...
- 5/25/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Neon is nearing a deal for North American rights to Cannes competition entry Perfect Days from The Match Factory in a deal pegged in the mid-to-high six figures.
The parties declined to comment.
Wim Wenders’ well-received Japan-set movie debuted today on the Croisette. The official synopsis for the movie reads: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
Starring are Koji Yakusho (Babel), newcomer Arisa Nakano, Tokio Emoto (Norwegian Wood), Yumi Aso (Carnation), Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura (Adrift in Tokyo), Aoi Yamada (Netflix series First Love) and veteran actor and dancer Min Tanaka (The Twilight Samurai).
Related: Cannes Film Festival 2023: All...
The parties declined to comment.
Wim Wenders’ well-received Japan-set movie debuted today on the Croisette. The official synopsis for the movie reads: Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
Starring are Koji Yakusho (Babel), newcomer Arisa Nakano, Tokio Emoto (Norwegian Wood), Yumi Aso (Carnation), Sayuri Ishikawa, Tomokazu Miura (Adrift in Tokyo), Aoi Yamada (Netflix series First Love) and veteran actor and dancer Min Tanaka (The Twilight Samurai).
Related: Cannes Film Festival 2023: All...
- 5/25/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman and Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
The dignity of labor is explored with gentle humor and a very melancholy sense of joie de vivre in Wim Wenders’ second 2023 Cannes entry after his 3D documentary Anselm. Shot entirely in Japan, with very little English spoken, Perfect Days is an unusual film from a westerner since it does nothing to “other” a country that is often romanticized as a series of specific cultural signifiers. It’s a compliment to say that Jim Jarmusch could have made it.
The working title for the film was apparently Tokyo Toilet, the name of the company that employs the film’s gnomic central character, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho). The first half-hour is a masterclass in economy, and could even pass muster as a short: Hirayama rises from his bachelor futon, goes to work, cleans the city’s conveniences with a dignified gusto, then relaxes...
The working title for the film was apparently Tokyo Toilet, the name of the company that employs the film’s gnomic central character, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho). The first half-hour is a masterclass in economy, and could even pass muster as a short: Hirayama rises from his bachelor futon, goes to work, cleans the city’s conveniences with a dignified gusto, then relaxes...
- 5/25/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Bittersweet tale of an apparently contented toilet cleaner has an ambient urban charm, but feels a little too understated
Wim Wenders’s new film, co-scripted by him with writer-director Takuma Takasaki, is a bittersweet quirky-Zen character study set in Tokyo which only comes fully to life in the final extended shot of the hero’s face, drifting back and forth between happiness and sadness. There are some lovely magic-hour scenes from cinematographer Franz Lustig, shooting in the boxy “Academy” frame.
Hirayama, played by Koji Yakusho (from Shohei Imamura’s The Eel) is a middle-aged man employed as a toilet cleaner, who drives around serenely from job to job in his van, listening to classic rock and pop on old-school audio cassettes: Patti Smith, the Kinks and of course, given the title, Lou Reed. At each location, he changes into a jumpsuit and with his brushes and mop matter-of-factly gets on with the job in hand.
Wim Wenders’s new film, co-scripted by him with writer-director Takuma Takasaki, is a bittersweet quirky-Zen character study set in Tokyo which only comes fully to life in the final extended shot of the hero’s face, drifting back and forth between happiness and sadness. There are some lovely magic-hour scenes from cinematographer Franz Lustig, shooting in the boxy “Academy” frame.
Hirayama, played by Koji Yakusho (from Shohei Imamura’s The Eel) is a middle-aged man employed as a toilet cleaner, who drives around serenely from job to job in his van, listening to classic rock and pop on old-school audio cassettes: Patti Smith, the Kinks and of course, given the title, Lou Reed. At each location, he changes into a jumpsuit and with his brushes and mop matter-of-factly gets on with the job in hand.
- 5/25/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A man who lives alone in spartan accommodation, sticking to the same daily routine, devoting himself to his job and barely speaking to anyone? Cinema has taught us that he is bound to be an assassin, a spy, a fugitive or a potential mass murderer. But in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which premiered in the Main Competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, he is a modest toilet cleaner – and this gentle, philosophical character study is all the more mesmeric for it.
The 77-year-old director’s fictional work has been overshadowed by his documentaries lately, but his new film, a fictional work which sometimes resembles a documentary, is a significant return to form for the director who won the Palme d’Or in 1984 for “Paris, Texas.” It begins by introducing us to the middle-aged Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) as he wakes up alone in his small flat. Once he’s cleaned his teeth,...
The 77-year-old director’s fictional work has been overshadowed by his documentaries lately, but his new film, a fictional work which sometimes resembles a documentary, is a significant return to form for the director who won the Palme d’Or in 1984 for “Paris, Texas.” It begins by introducing us to the middle-aged Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) as he wakes up alone in his small flat. Once he’s cleaned his teeth,...
- 5/25/2023
- by Nicholas Barber
- The Wrap
Variety has been given a sneak peek of the trailer (below) for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which world premieres in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. It follows Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
Koji Yakusho leads the cast. In 2005, he co-starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” which was nominated for six Academy Awards. In the following year, he co-starred in “Babel,” a film that was honored by the Cannes Film Festival and earned Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Along with his international success, Yakusho has...
The film is a deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. It follows Hirayama, who seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. A series of unexpected encounters gradually reveal more of his past.
Koji Yakusho leads the cast. In 2005, he co-starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” which was nominated for six Academy Awards. In the following year, he co-starred in “Babel,” a film that was honored by the Cannes Film Festival and earned Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Along with his international success, Yakusho has...
- 5/20/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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